


Of Secrets, Curses and Scars

by Happy_Leopard73



Category: The Hobbit - All Media Types
Genre: Angst, Durin Family Feels, F/M, Family Healing, Fili is an awesome older brother, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, I Don't Even Know, Kili can speak black speech, Protective Older Brothers, Scars, Secrets, Thorin Is an Idiot, Thorin's actions result in guilt, Tortured Past, Voice Loss by Magic, Why Did I Write This?
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-02
Updated: 2020-11-03
Packaged: 2021-03-04 04:42:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 28,558
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24997786
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Happy_Leopard73/pseuds/Happy_Leopard73
Summary: He never did anything right. Everything he did was wrong. Kili strikes a bargain with a devious witch in goblin town which will better the life of his uncle hating him or ruin it completely. He and Fili realise sometimes actions speak for words. On the duration of the quest, Kili's secrets slowly reveal themselves, and Fili tries so hard to get through the barrier and to the confusing past of his little brother.
Relationships: Fíli & Kíli, Fíli & Thorin Oakenshield, Kíli & Thorin Oakenshield, Kíli/OC, Thorin Oakenshield & Thorin's Company
Kudos: 18





	1. When We Were Apart

_Fili smiled fondly down at the baby wrapped up in a bundle of blankets in his arms as he rocked it gently to stop the consistent wailing. The blonde sat down on a log and cooed as two children surrounded him and sat down._

_"Tell him a story." The girl suggested. "That's how my mummy used to calm me down."_

_"Tell him the story of how it all happened." The boy added._

_Fili inhaled deeply with a nod. He thought of his mother and tugged a flower from the ground with his free hand before twiddling the stems through his fingers. He wondered if mahal's halls existed, if she was there right now watching him. He cleared his throat in preparation, wrapping an arm around the girl to pull her close as the boy joined him in sitting on the log and huddled closer._

_"Once upon a time, in a far off village, there lay a small house near the edge of the woods. And in this house lived a carefree, reckless archer, his slightly oblivious older brother and their abrasive uncle who was determined to reclaim his homeland that he and his kin lost to a dragon long ago...."_

* * *

"Kili, at your service." The young dwarf bowed politely before observing the hobbit in surprise. He was smaller than the archer had expected, and looking down at his feet he could see that they were shockingly hairy and it made him grimace slightly.

"Nope, you can't come in, you've come to the wrong house." Bilbo declared, moving to close the door in the dwarf's face who put his foot there and stopped it.

"Has he cancelled it?" Kili asked, before nodding to himself without leaving time for an answer. "Why am I asking, of course he wouldn't tell me." Came the irritated mumble.

"No...what? Nothing has been cancelled. Wh...who wouldn't tell you?"

"Oh. Nobody." Bilbo furrowed his brow as he studied the bruise baring the young dwarf's cheek. It looked as though someone had whacked it multiple times with a bat, breaking down the red blood cells under the skin to turn it almost black with hints of purple and then done nothing to treat it.

Kili looked back at him, distracting him from the horrifying thought. "Can I come in?" He asked, and before Bilbo could answer he barged inside and unintentionally knocked the hafling out of the way. He was surprised at how immaculate the place was - the outside had been mossy roof, built into a hillside. The exterior was decorated with some impish ornaments and a bunch of pretty flowers were placed on the stairs that lead to the front door – a perfectly round green door with a yellow brass knob placed right in the middle.

The inside though was such a dazzling aroma that he realised hobbits weren't given enough credit. Outside and inside so peaceful in demeanour.

He entered the kitchen and smiled at Balin and Dwalin who were chattering to one another and looked up when they heard the sound of new footsteps. "Kili!" They greeted in unison, sounding as if they were shocked to lay eyes on him as much as they tried to keep the high-pitched syllables of surprise out of their tone. Their matching grins dropped when they saw the dark purple bruise baring one half of the dwarf's face.

"Hi." He answered and Dwalin chuckled again, taking the hint that the next subjects to be discussed should be nothing to do with whatever gruesome event had come to pass in that area. "Mister Dwalin." Kili commented as his old trainer threw an arm around his shoulders and lead him towards the table. "I thought I was really late."

"Yer earlier than most, lad." Balin told him. Kili let himself relax as he spoke to the two for a while. He wasn't usually able to talk to anybody without the constant glower of his uncle's glare boring into his back so this moment was unknowingly refreshing. He helped them set up in the tiny kitchen, moving tables around so ten more bodies would be able to sit with them and laid out, what one would call, a classic dwarf dinner.

Meanwhile Ori, Dori and Nori had crossed paths with Bifur, Bofur, Bombur, Oin, Gloin and Gandalf on their journey to the hobbit hole, and the eight dwarves were discussing whether or not they thought that a certain brunette would be joining them on the journey. 

"Do you think he will come?"

"I don't know, brother."

"I heard that Thorin lashed out at him again."

"We will see."

"Never underestimate the stubbornness of dwarves." Gandalf spoke for the first time in this entire conversation. "Thorin wouldn't have invited the lad if he hadn't thought an archer would be useful, and Kili will not want to but he will, just to prove something." The others murmured their agreements as they knocked on the round green hobbit door once they had found the mark and it was opened by a rather flustered and irritated looking hobbit though nobody seemed to notice.

Their eyes lit up on seeing somebody sat on the corner of the table once they had gathered themselves and entered the humble home. "Kili!" They all exclaimed, laying eyes on the nasty bruise but when they saw the dwarf smile brightly they all decided not to react.

"Hey." Kili greeted before clapping his hands. "So, food?" He asked. The dwarves and Gandalf laughed at his 'question.'

Kili spoke with Ori a lot as they sat around the table, laughing as they attempted to catch food and drank ale as fast as possible, though Kili had always been rather awful at that compared to somebody like Master Dwalin. They cleaned up the dishes with a merry song as Kili kicked all the bowls - cutlery bounced, plates flew, every other means of kitchen appliance rolled along the table but somehow nothing cracked.

Once the song ended a knock sounded, resulting in the whole room quieting completely. Only two dwarves were missing, and Kili knew exactly who they happened to be.

"They are here." Gandalf whispered.

It was answered and Thorin stepped through looking a wee bit agitated, Fili on his tail, handing his uncle his cloak to hang up. The company all bowed aside Kili who crossed his arms with a scoff, until Thorin shot him a warning look and he rolled his eyes, bowing as sarcastically as he could make it. "Gandalf." Thorin murmured. "I thought you said this place would be easy to find. I lost my way, twice. I wouldn't have found it at all had it not been for that mark on the door."

"Mark? There's no mark on that door it was painted a week ago!"

"There is a mark. I put it there myself." Gandalf explained. "Bilbo Baggins, allow me to introduce you to the leader of our company: Thorin Oakenshield. With his nephew and heir, Fili."

"Heir?" Bilbo questioned in surprise. "You're a king?"

"Exiled king, but aye." Thorin corrected, moving to stand in front of Bilbo and look the hobbit up and down, but before he could comment another question spilled from the lips of the hafling.

"Fili will be king after you?"

"Indeed." Fili spoke up proudly with a huff of his chest.

Kili scoffed with an eye roll, though it didn't go unheard and everyone turned to face him. "I am not accepting your behavior." Thorin hissed.

"When did you ever?" Kili spat.

"You are being irrational and rude." Thorin growled.

"I was trying to act like you today." Kili fired back. Thorin squared his shoulders threateningly and started forward but Balin grabbed his arm and tugged him back to stop a bad scene from unfolding.

"Lads, come on! Let's stay polite - we're guests, remember! Fight it out later." He tried to sound cheerful whilst Thorin snarled at the youngest and Kili crossed his arms, tilting his head with a smug grin laced with victory.

Bilbo just looked shocked that anybody could own the audacity to speak like that to king. "F...fight out what?" he asked, dreading asking the question when nobody bothered to answer.

The rest of the night Kili sat huddled in the corner next to Nori and Ori, trying to be irrelevant and unnoticable so that he wouldn't have to speak and say the wrong thing to anger his uncle.

"What are you doing?!" Thorin hissed to Kili after their long conversation about the quest that ended up making the poor hobbit faint. The other company members were engaged in conversation as Gandalf sat with Bilbo in the other room.

"Sitting in the corner, making no noise at all and pretending that I don't exist." Thorin nodded in approval and looked away, neither him nor Kili noticing the look of sadness that Fili shot in his brothers direction.

* * *

"Fili, Kili, look after the ponies! Make sure you stay with them." Thorin warned, glaring at Kili who stood up and stomped miserably over to the creatures. Fili scowled and did the same as he grabbed their reins and lead them into the forest, far away enough from the company but not so far that any disastrous event would lead to them not being able to grab help from them in time. Kili smiled at his pony, Bungle, and reached down for the water bowl to let him have a drink for the first time that day. 

"What are you doing?" Fili demanded.

"Fili, what does it look like I'm doing?" Kili asked in exasperation. 

"Using _our_ water to feed _your_ pony. How selfish can you get?"

"You know what? Thorin hasn't let my pony drink for a whole day and I'm the selfish one?!"

"That drink is for every pony!"

"Any excuse for a fight." Kili muttered.

"A fight? You're the one that tried to kill us all."

"Don't assume things when you don't know the full story!" Kili sucked in an irritated breath to avoid spitting out something he knew he would regret later and he stalked away into the woods.

Fili scoffed and trailed after his younger brother. "Why are you leaving? Scared of me humiliating you?"

"What is wrong with you?!"

"What is wrong with you?! Why are you so messed up? Why are you hiding things? What part of this 'full story' do I not understand?"

Kili looked taken aback. "What?"

"Tell me what's wrong! What is so secret and dark that you can't even tell me?"

"If you were there for me maybe I would!"

"I am here for you!"

"When, Fili? When?"

The blonde's cheeks flushed and he was irritated to be spoken to like he was three years old, not winning an argument. He noticed the rune stone in Kili's hand and his temper flared again. He reached forward and grabbed the stone, just like Thorin had done that dreadful day even though Fili vaguely remembered himself stopping him from lobbing it across the room.

"Silly uncle. Didn't throw it hard enough the first time!" He moved his arm to throw it when Kili grasped his wrist with one hand. Two bloodshot dark orbs met two terrified bright ones. 

"Don't make the same mistake." Kili hissed, grabbing the stone easily out of his brother's hand. "You are just like him." He threw Fili's wrist to his side and Fili just stood there numbly, before attempting to make it up.

"Kee, I didn't mean to do that." He murmured.

Kili paused. Fili hadn't used that nickname since they were dwarflings. "Kind of seemed like you did."

"I'm serious Kili. I didn't mean any of that. I'm really sorry." Kili scoffed and recounted the ponies as his brother carried on to speak. "Kili, I'm so sorry! Kili, are you even listening to me?"

"Shh! How many ponies were there again?"

"Sixteen. Will you now listen to what I have to say?"

"Fili there's only fourteen..."

"That isn't possible." Fili told him. "We've been here the whole time." He walked to stand next to his brother, counting to make sure before realising he was correct. Both brothers constantly recounted before shuffling behind them entered their ears but neither looked back.

"W...whats the matter?" Bilbo asked when they made no move to take two bowls of stew, for both were staring fixedly ahead at something that he was unaware of when he glanced in that direction. 

"We're supposed to be looking after the ponies." Kili began.

"Only we've encountered a...slight problem." 

"We had sixteen."

"Now there's...fourteen." Fili finished their sentences before realising that he just did that and glanced at Kili in surprise who didn't seem to notice, and was off to figure out their next move. 

"Daisy and Bungle are missing." He confirmed. 

"Well that is not good...and that is not good _at all,_ shouldn't we tell Thorin?"

"Uh no...best not worry him." He did notice the smirk that Kili shot him at that moment and cringed but spoke nothing of the matter - guilt was creeping in slightly. 

They came to the conclusion that something rather large had been present and knocked over half the trees in the area, informing them that whatever calamity they were dealing with appeared to be larger than they originally thought. 

"Hey." Fili whispered as his keen eyes detected a slight glow in the near distance through the trees. "There's a light!"

He crouched down and crawled towards a log, Kili reluctantly joining him and both peered over the tree trunk to have a look and see if they could suss out the source of the crashing. "What is it?" Bilbo asked, frowning in confusion at what he couldn't see.

Kili scrunched up his face in irritation. "Trolls." He hissed before leaping up and running over the broken bole. Fili blinked in surprise, briefly wondering how in mahal's name Kili knew that but decided that no time was to be wasted dwelling and he followed after his determined little brother. 

When they stopped behind another large trunk Kili's guesses were confirmed for the trio layed eyes on a creature uglier than words could say who held two horses in his arms and as he stomped towards their camp he jostled the whining creatures with the rhythm of his stomping.

"He's got myrtle and minty!" Bilbo exclaimed. Kili noticed the bowls of stew still in the burglar's hands and he snickered to himself as he looked out towards the creatures who held their ponies captive. He had had multiple run-ins with trolls before; they were extremely slow, stupid creatures who never really knew what they were doing and if you threatened them with a weapon they tended to do whatever you told them to. "I think they're going to eat them, we have to do something!"

_He's the blasted burglar._

"Yes!" Kili agreed immediately. If need be he decided he could handle the trolls but he may as well give Bilbo some practise. "You should! Mountain trolls are slow, and stupid, and you're so small they'll never see you!" At Bilbo's consistent protesting he put a hand on the hobbit's back and pushed him in the direction of the trolls. "It's perfectly safe! We'll be right behind you."

Fili was quick to agree, looking at the creatures in slight terror. He had studied trolls but never actually seen one, and it looked as though one little smack to the face could damage your brain. "If you run into trouble hoot twice like a barn owl. Once like a brown owl." He said as he pushed the flustered hafling into the danger zone who repeated these words to himself before spinning around.

"Are you sure this is a good ide..." He rolled his eyes when he noticed the two brothers had disappeared somewhere and turned back to the task at hand. 

Kili had whipped behind a bush and Fili had cautiously edged the other way. "Go and get Thorin." 

Fili scoffed. "I'm not just gonna leave you here."

"Fili, go." Kili ordered as he peered in concern through the cracks in the greenery. Fili opened his mouth to protest but decided against it and sprinted in the other direction. 

From what he could see the hobbit was doing well as he thought of a tactic and attempted to pull a weapon off of one of the troll's back. Kili watched him in interest; he seemed so terrified to reach out and touch but Kili admired his courage and stealth. 

"Why weren't you watching them better?" A voice behind him startled him and he turned his attention off of Bilbo for a moment and to his uncle who had an expression of no nonsense plastered on his face.

"Sorry, uncle." he mumbled.

"You are constantly endangering our company, Kili! How many times are you planning on doing this?"

"Hang on a second..." Fili began, slightly annoyed that he wasn't getting any blame for this. He didn't want any but it wasn't fair for it _all_ to be laid on his brother.

"Quiet, Fili! Kili, when are you going to learn?!"

"Uh oh." Dwalin's rumbling voice interrupted their argument as the company caught up with them and stood in an orderly circle. "Our burglar seems to have got himself in a worrying situation."

"Right you are, Dwalin." Bofur agreed as the three Durin's peered over to see what they were talking about. "What is he covered in?"

"Ew." Kili whispered.

"Are you going to do anything?" Fili demanded to nobody in particular.

"Kili got us in this mess and he should get us out." Thorin spoke bitterly.

"You're too cowardly to do it yourself, are you?"

"Listen here..." Thorin began.

"Hold his toes over the fire! Make him squeal!"

Kili heard the voice and panicked, falling backwards through the bush before Thorin could continue his sentence and he drew his sword before slashing at the troll's leg who squealed, hopping as he grasped at the pain with his hand. "Drop him!" 

The company were quite shocked at how harsh their archer sounded. "You what?" A troll asked, carelessly dangling Bilbo upside down whose eyes were as wide as they could get.

"I said, drop him." Kili repeated, swinging his sword in circles before holding it out defensively. 

The troll frowned and released the hobbit after a swing who flew through the air and towards Kili. The archer squinted his eyes wearily and held out two arms in an attempt to break the fall when they collided but both fell backwards onto the floor despite his efforts. 

Thorin, followed by the company, tore through the bushes to begin a mini battle. They slashed, dodged, jumped, stabbed and ran, making enough noise to wake the entire forest in the process until Bilbo once again got lifted in the air, but this time right side up. However this still caught everyone's attention and Thorin reluctantly dropped his weapon, everyone else following suit after the trolls threatened to rip Bilbo's arms off.

 _They're all here,_ Kili thought in worry. _If I do something to help then they'll all know._

So they were shoved into sacks and thrown on a pile, as a couple of dwarves (including Fili) were tied by rope above the fire as the dumb trolls attempted to cook them. Bilbo spoke to try and stall them as Kili lay there, watching with slight amusement as the dwarves idiotically spoke out of term as they took Bilbo's lying to heart. That was something he would have done in the past.

They were saved though, by a wizard who came just in time and turned all of the trolls to stone. 

"No dinner for him." Thorin said loudly from where he sat quietly, eating the boiling stew Bombur had just handed him as he watched the fat dwarf wander over to his youngest nephew who sat next to Ori. It was the night of the trolls and everybody was still a little shaken. Especially from the stench of the troll cave that they had ambled through. Kili wasn't allowed to take anything but Gandalf slipped him a switchblade when nobody was looking so he was happy. 

Bombur paused and glanced at his king before sending a saddened look to Kili who waved him off and leant miserably back against the tree trunk.

"I can slip you some of mine." Ori offered, showing Kili his bowl. "He'll hardly notice."

"No. If he wants me to stave, I'll starve." Kili said with a bitter glare towards Thorin before smiling at his friend in thanks for the kind offer. The next time they moved on out of the woods the two rode next to each other right at the back, not saying anything to anyone.

* * *

"So...do you know what is wrong here?" Elrond asked, studying the familiar dwarf in concern as Balin shook his head. 

"I don't know, nor do any of us where the convulsions have come from." he informed the elf despondently. 

"Are you sure you haven't missed any signs?"

The company shook their heads no. Bofur stepped forward, asking the question haunting most of their minds. "Is there absolutely nothing you can do?"

"I'm afraid not. I need him to wake up to explain." Elrond told them. He observed the company; Thorin Oakenshield stood at the end of the huddle with his arms crossed, staring at the wall and the blonde dwarf whom Balin had mentioned was the archer's brother stood at the back, fiddling with his fingernails as he had no idea what else to do.

The dwarf lying on the bed murmured something and everyone snapped their heads in his direction. It sounded suspiciously like...

 _F_ _ili?_

The dwarf in question slightly parted his lips in surprise as Kili shifted on the bed and fell silent again. Fili swallowed his guilt and made no means of movement, just tried to telepathically send a message to his little brother's mind.

_I'm right here, nadadith._

Elrond then sent the lot away to do whatever it was dwarves did in their spare time whilst he patiently awaited for the brunette to awaken and stop shaking, which eventually, after about three more hours, did happen.

"Hello Kili." He greeted as the archer opened his blurry eyes and observed his surroundings in confusion.

"Mhph." Was his response as he tried to sit upright but fell back down onto the pillow. He wasn't in pain; nothing had happened physically and he couldn't describe how he felt. It was a really weird feeling - like he was on a cloud yet falling off a cliff at the same time.

"Do you think you can tell us what caused your convulsions?" An unfamiliar voice asked.

"Convulsions?" Kili asked with a frown as he attempted to sit up again, this time succeeding and he noticed two elves seated beside the bed. One he recognized as Lord Elrond and the other was unknown to him but he was the source of the mysterious voice. He had long dark hair which was braided neatly to the sides of his face and secured with a hair clasp, along with bright blue orbs which Kili could feel were boring into his. There was nobody else in the room. Or so they thought.

"Your companions say they came out of nowhere." Elrond informed him.

"I was thinking about the past and it may have gotten me shaking." Kili admitted with a slight shudder as a shiver of a jolt was zapped down his spine. 

Elrond sighed and faced the other elf. "May you leave us alone for a minute please, Adrophir?"

The elf stared back for a moment before dipping his head in response and standing from the chair, sauntering over to the door and then leaving. 

"May I see your scars? I want to check on them." Elrond questioned once he was certain that they were alone.

Kili hesitated before slowly nodding. He let his tunic fall and removed his shirt so that the elven king could clearly see every mark, whiplash, scar, burn, black and purple bruise and patch of dried blood. He let out a low whistle at the horrifying state and reached out a shaky hand to trace his finger along the largest one travelling across his whole back which Kili arched at an attempt of escape the moment Elrond's fingers made contact with it. 

"Something wrong, Kili?"

"I don't know. I guess every time its touched I remember things that I don't want to remember."

The lord nodded in understanding. "I know. You can cover them back up, maybe come down if you feel up to eating."

Kili nodded and watched his friend stand up and depart before putting his own clothing back on and following.

Fili's lips remained parted in shock and Ori's eyes didn't shrink from the size of saucers as they watched Kili follow after Elrond. They had seen the entire encounter from in the shadows, knowing for a fact that Elrond would see them. If he did, however, he didn't show it.

"Did you know about any of this?" Fili hissed to Ori. "I thought you two were close."

"No, of course not." Ori answered, a little miffed that somehow Kili had managed to hide all of those. "I mean, I guess you wouldn't know, Kili probably thinks you despise him."

Fili flinched internally. "Despise him? Of course not, I love him, he's my brother!"

"Then show it!" Ori snapped irritably before widening his eyes, flinching at his own outburst. He was never one to get angry; never spoke his mind. Fili seemed just as surprised and blinked as he comprehended what had just been fired in his direction. Ori stuttered "Fili, I...I'm sorry, I didn't mean..."

Fili's eyes didn't decrease in size and he turned and ran out of the room, leaving Ori lost in a trail of his own thoughts.

* * *

Kili sat on the fence outside with the rest of the company who were spread out along the grass, aside Thorin, Balin and the hobbit who were inside discussing the moon runes that they had read last night. 

Fili watched him in interest, Ori's words swirling around in his mind repeatedly and he couldn't shake them away. He also couldn't be rid of the fact that of all of the people in the world it was him that Kili had been pining for in his dreams the previous day. A decision clipped into place and with a wave of new determination he arose from the ground and strolled confidently over to his brother, hopping up onto the fence beside him. 

Kili could see his brother staring at him out of the corner of his eye and he purposely looked in the other direction. Fili used his hands to shift himself closer and Kili's eyes squinted in confusion and he awkwardly moved himself the same distance but further away in turn. Fili wouldn't accept this and made the exact same move as before, making Kili irritably jump onto the floor and spin around to face his brother.

"What do you want?"

"Thorin is driving me crazy." Fili told his brother before silently cursing himself for beginning his sentence like that. He wasn't even sure if this was really a good idea, for Thorin had kept them apart... _what would he do if he came back and saw them together?_ However, Kili's response was not what he had expected. 

"You mean it's taken you this long...?"

"And I wanted to say that I'm sorry."

Kili snorted loudly, grabbing the attention of the other company members who looked in their direction. Fili glared at them and they all averted eyes, pretending to make conversation yet listened in. "That's rich."

"Kili, I'm serious. Look, I know I have been quite mean to you..."

"Mean?!" The archer suddenly spun around in anger. "Blamed me for something that wasn't my fault, ignored me, got me into trouble, listened to uncle because you're a coward who is scared of his wrath and then spied on what you knew full well was a private conversation between my and Elrond! All this for such a long time with no apology and you think you were being _mean_?!"

Fili nodded, gnawing on his bottom lip. "I deserve that." Kili leant back against the fence with a huff and cursed something vile underneath his breath in black speech which shocked Fili to no end at how his brother knew such language but he tried not to react. "I'm gonna pretend I didn't hear that."

"Ok, and I'll pretend you're interesting." he told Fili, leaning forward on his hand with false eagerness which made Fili roll his eyes.

"Look, I know there are many things I've done which are wrong in my ways of treating you and there is no excuse, and I'm so sorry. The only reason I can give you is Thorin talked to me about it and when I figured out my duties I supposed it was for the best...and after the whole ring thing..." He paused and sighed deeply. "I'm sorry. I have never been so wrong in all my life."

"So...you're scared of Thorin?" He knew he couldn't say much, but him letting Thorin do what he did to him wasn't necessarily because his uncle scared him, more because it was easier than putting up a fight. That ended even worse.

"No." Fili answered, a little to quickly. "Besides, I'm not the one who told Dwalin that calling Thorin Satan was an insult to Satan." His temper flared again and he realised rather belatedly that this wasn't the way to make it up to his brother.

"Well..." Kili stretched his arms forward awkwardly and listened to his fingers crack when he linked them. "Nobody's perfect."

For some reason this made Fili laugh and Kili found a smile of his own creeping onto his face. "Is that really why? It's not because of me?" He hated how childish he sounded but he had to know.

Fili shook his head hastily. "No! I have missed you so much...my ways of showing it aren't too great I know...I've regretted the decision to block you out of my life ever since the day you disappeared." Kili cringed at that but did no more. Fili tilted his head in concern. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine." Came the swift and blunt answer. 

Fili put a hand on his brother's shoulder and smiled encouragingly. "You know I'm always here for you." _This is just what I needed,_ Kili thought to himself. Fili slapped his knees and stood up. "Well, I have decided to commit to 'being a brother'."

Kili raised his eyebrows. "Well you're fifty five years too late..." At his brother's annoyed expression Kili sighed. "Look, the moment Thorin turns up you'll be back to..."

"What is going on here?" A booming voice interrupted his sentence as Thorin stared at the conversing brothers with his hands on his hips.

Fili raised his chin defensively, trying to look more confident than he felt. "I have decided to drop this stupid act and focus on repairing the damaged relationship with my little brother."

Thorin turned to Kili. "And you will let him do this?"

Kili's eyes tried not to widen and he nodded slowly. "I don't know what has lead this on but all I know is that I do not accept your behavior, my sister son." Thorin scolded Fili who merely shrugged, relaxing his tense shoulders.

"Very well, although I must say, I do not care about your opinion anymore." The blonde took hold of his brothers hand and lead him away who followed numbly, stunned by these fast turning events. Five minutes ago his brother would have poisoned his water if he had the opportunity.

_What in mahal's name had lead this on?_

Thorin watched them leave with a glare which bored into Kili's back and he silently hoped that his waves would be enough to burn a hole in the back of...preferably Kili's neck so he would drop to the ground dead there and then. 

"I'm sorry for spying on your conversation with Elrond, that was wrong of me." Fili told his brother as they ambled to the other side of the grass where Thorin was not. Fili was still a little surprised at himself for how easy it was to stand up to Thorin like that. Once he got going, he could speak without widening his eyes in terror.

"It's ok...as long as you promise not to tell anyone what you saw or so help me you will regret it." Kili threatened. 

"But they might become infected or..."

"Promise?!" The voice interrupted him and Fili smiled.

"I promise."


	2. When The Bargain Was Struck

_"I didn't know what to do." Fili continued his story, sighing at his past self. "Kili literally never spoke to me and when he did we fought. It was my fault, I suppose, Thorin told me to ignore him and I did after the incident with the ring."_

_Fili scoffed silently to himself in regret and placed the flowers against the base of the stone before staring up at the clouds. "Kili and Ori were close and they usually rode at the back together away from everyone else. I kind of wanted to get involved but I didn't know how. It would be a little suspicious if I just announced that I was in the conversation."_

_"Yeah, a lot suspicious." A voice spoke from behind them and Fili jumped in his position before whipping his head behind him to lock eyes with Kili. "You hated me."_

_"I never hated you." Fili denied as Kili giggled and sat down on the dwarf's other side._

_"Whatever you say, brother."_

_"How long have you been stood there?"_

_"Since you got to the part about how cocky you were once you arrived at the damn hobbit hole."_

_Fili nudged him hard in the ribs and looked down, hiding a smile behind his loose blonde locks. "I was not cocky."_

_"So what are we doing here?"_

_"Fili's telling Rose the story of how it all happened." The boy leaned forward as Kili grinned at him._

_"That's cute."_

_"It's our story!" Fili exclaimed as his brother nodded. "I'm getting very into this, I think my career should be storytelling."_

_"Then you can use hand gestures to dramatise it. I'll hold my child." Kili reached over and took the now silent bundle from the blonde who scowled at him._

_"You're not supposed to be here."_

_Kili smirked. "I'm staying right here. Please continue."_

* * *

"Who would be so bold as to come armed into my kingdom?" The goblin king asked, towering over every dwarf and every goblin who stared up at him with wide eyes; all except Kili. The black-haired archer glared defiantly - this place, this cavern, none of it was new to him, but it didn't change the fact that he hated it.

Fili hovered protectively in front of his brother, ignoring the goblins who had death grips on his arms, even though he thought that if they held any tighter they could literally crush his bones. Stupid goblins, he thought. It's not like I can go anywhere. 

"Spies? thieves? Assassins?" he continued, observing the group as he leaned forward on his giant throne.

"Dwarves, your malevolence." A goblin told him.

"Dwarves?" He voiced, as if it was the most shocking thing in the world.

"We found 'em on the front porch."

"Well don't just stand there. Search them! Every crack...every crevice!" He bellowed, goblins immediately obeying, and the dwarves couldn't stop them from stealing every weapon that was stashed around their bodies and throwing them into a pile with great satisfaction. The dwarves growled - they were overwhelmed. The goblin king suddenly lurched forward, eyes fixed on Kili, making Fili even more ancy than he already was and he put an arm out protectively, making Kili smile at the gesture. He had missed the feeling of somebody wanting to protect him.

Murmurings broke out through the goblins. "It's him, my lord! it's him!" They were hissing, making the goblin smile evilly.

"Yes? Oh this is fun!" He grinned, observing the group. "What are you doing in these parts? Speak!" Nobody did, not that anybody was surprised - they followed Thorin's actions, mostly because he was the leader, they were terrified of him, and they had seen the black and purple bruise that marked the youngest member of the company's cheek. They weren't sure they fancied earning one for themselves. "Very well. If they will not talk, we'll make them squawk! Bring up the mangler. Bring up the bone breaker." Movement was suddenly happening quicker, goblins running away to fetch the torture devices that their leader had requested. "Start with the youngest!"

The goblins finger was pointing at Kili.

The next thing the dwarf knew is that he was kneeling in front of the goblin king, hands chained in thick metal cuffs. He couldn't wriggle free despite his breath-taking efforts and Fili was fighting even harder, earning himself a good beating in the process but they all knew why. Fili would want to suffer with his brother. 

"Now." The goblin king began, tapping his brown fingers together earnestly . "I know your weak spots, little one, and I know how to cause you abdominal amounts of pain!" The goblins all cheered, and Kili rolled his eyes. "Shall we add to those pretty little scars, my dear? Have these fellow dwarves seen them up close?"

Kili's eyes snapped up. "Shut up!" He snarled viciously in black speech before he could stop himself.

The king cackled loudly, the sound echoing through the caves. "What was that?" He put a finger to his ear. "Oh, right. You need to be taught some manners. Rip off his shirt!" The goblins obeyed and soon he was bare chested and was being heaved forward by six goblins. He couldn't fight back unless he kicked out with his legs which were being dragged, making this process a lot more difficult.

They forcefully spun him around so his back met the eyes of the company who all simultaneously let out gasps of horror at the scars littering the destroyed skin. There was an uncountable amount, different shaped, sizes, some a much darker colour that others. It was unimaginable how many torture devices had been used to create them. Fili and Ori had both seen glimpses of them in Rivendell, and so Fili wasn't as shocked, but he hadn't seen them up close.

It was Balin who broke the dim silence as he stepped forward. "Kili, lad, how did you get these?" Kili didn't answer, only one phrase running through his mind. Stupid goblin king. A different goblin raised a very familiar whip and moved to bring it down on Kili's back. Fili stared at his uncle, who had been silent the entire time, trying to stay unnoticed. Coward, Fili thought. Thorin caught his gaze, and Fili's eyes reflected pure anger. You had better do something, they told the exiled king, so Thorin sighed in slight disappointment and stepped forward.

"Wait." he murmured, surprising Kili. He had assumed that his uncle would find satisfaction and amusement out of watching this.

"Look who it is! Thorin, son of Thrain, son of Thror, King under the mountain! Oh but I am forgetting you don't have a mountain, and you're not a king, which makes you...nobody really." Hilarious, Kili thought bitterly. Absolutely hilarious. He should win a gold medal for that joke. "I know someone...who would pay a pretty price for your head. Just the head - nothing attached." He told Thorin, who glared at him, thoughts whirling through his head like a hurricane - it couldn't be...could it?

No, he reminded himself. It couldn't possibly be him. He was dead.

However, his earlier muses were proven to be correct when the goblin king next spoke. "Perhaps you know of whom I speak. An old enemy of yours. A pale orc, astride a white warg."

Thorin shook his head, choosing not to believe it. Sometimes it was easier to believe what you want to believe, not what filthy goblin king's tell you. "Azog the Defiler was destroyed. He was slain in the battle long ago!"

"And you think his defiling days are done, do you? You should ask your nephew." The goblin chuckled, glancing at Kili who bit his bottom lip awkwardly. "I'm sure he hasn't forgotten him."

Thorin glared daggers at his youngest nephew. "What is he talking about Kili?" He asked calmly, the urge to hit out growing instinctively by a huge amount. "Have you met Azog?"

Kili just nodded slowly. Thorin half laughed at the response. "Fine. Torture away for all I care." He spat, causing the goblin king to howl with laughter once again. The company were all sure that the floor was vibrating with the rhythm of his laughing.

"Uncle!" Fili exclaimed, complete and utter hurt reflected in his eyes.

"Fine. Take them to the dungeons. I want to talk to this one alone." The goblins began to obey and Fili desperately screamed his brothers name who looked at him sadly. It will be okay, he mouthed, but Fili just shook his head as he continued to cry out, earning an excessive amount of bruising but he didn't care. He was thrown in a large cage with everyone in the company, stuck in by rather thin iron bars. Fili opened his mouth but nothing came out, as he glared all of his anger, his hurt, his hatred feelings towards his uncle. In response, the son of Thrain refused to catch his eye, ordering Bofur and Gloin to look for any weakness in the bars. He could see Fili out of the corner of his eye, so he turned around and started up a conversation with Balin and Dwalin.

_Coward._

"So then, little one, care to share?" The goblin asked for what must have been the fifteenth time that day. Kili had been whipped more times than he could count, but he wouldn't spill any information that he knew - as much as he knew his uncle despised him, the feelings mutual, he wanted to prove himself.

"No." He hissed, another crack sounding as the spikes made contact with his back, causing him to hiss through clenched teeth. The king rolled his eyes in boredom before jumping as what he would call an amazing idea formed in his brain and he took a hand from under his flabby chin and leaned back, cackling.

"Fetch Nerissa." He called to one of the many goblins in the caves, and a group of them disappeared to an unknown location. His ropes were cut, to his surprise, and he collapsed to the floor, massaging his aching wrists. It had barely been a second before he was being dragged by goblins again, away from the torture devices so he couldn't exactly complain.

Kili stepped back with wide eyes when a woman, beautiful and flawless of face yet vile and black of heart, stepped out from behind the wooden throne, leading the goblins that had gone to fetch her. Her skin was completely unblemished, blue piercing orbs her most eye-catching feature. Her hair was the whitest thing that Kili thought he had ever seen in his life, and ran in luscious curls behind her neck, some in front of both of her shoulders. She walked over to him, smiling to reveal startling snow white teeth and she pressed two fingers to his forehead. He furrowed his brow as she started to chant, and when she moved away a smug smile broke out onto her countenance.

"This one was a good one to pick." She told the goblin king. "You know, your secrets make you who you are." Her voice was worryingly soothing, and she had a manner about her that seemed almost ghost-like. She laughed softly at his confused expression. He had seen many things in his life, this point he hated to elaborate on, but this was certainly not one of them. He sort of recognized her; there was something about her, he couldn't put his finger on it though, that made the darkest areas of his brain click into place in some sort of realisation.

"So why don't you and your uncle get along, sweetie? Why does he insist on beating you up? I'm sure you would give anything to have him accept you as his prince, you no longer being torn between two worlds...Akim." Kili's eyes snapped up at the realisation that she had just declared one of his largest secrets as though it was the most normal thing in the world. And how in mahal's name did she know it?! "I have a proposition, just for you, and you only." She told him as he furrowed his brow at her uncertainly.

The goblin king howled with laughter. "She makes good propositions, young prince." He added, leaning forward and resting a flabby chin on his chubby finger thoughtfully, waiting to enjoy the show that Nerissa would no doubt offer. She smiled up at him, before turning her attention back to the prince.

"Let's say I can change the past." She slipped smoothly around him in circles. "If you can get your uncle to accept you...to love you as one of his own like your brother in just three months, I will get rid of all of the scars on your back, wipe the very existence of Akim from the whole of Middle Earth. Your one world, being a loved prince, will be your only world."

Thoughts circled around Kili's head at the offer - she would take all of his pain away? It seemed to good to be true. This thought arose the skeptical emotion inside him and he put his hands on his hips, spinning around sharply to face her."Why?" He demanded and she laughed.

"It's what I do; it's what I live for. To help unfortunate, forlorn souls like yourself who have nobody else to turn to." 

Kili gulped. "So, a snap of the fingers and the pain goes right away?" She nodded and he shook his head eagerly. "Go right ahead."

"It's not that simple, my love."

"Thought so." Kili remarked, clapping his hands together. "Well, it's...been riveting."

"We are not done here." She hissed, fiddling with the golden clasp around her wrist. Kili noticed it and his eyes widened; he knew exactly what that bracelet was and he didn't like it.

"You have it." He stepped forward to look at it closer and she in turn stepped back. "You can shapeshift. How did you..."

"What I can do, and why I can do it, is none of your concern."

"Same goes for me." Kili fired back.

"I suggest you listen closely because I will only say this once, and if you don't you and your family will be trapped in here for a lot longer than I suppose you would like, as one by one the dear goblin king gets his entertainment by sucking the life out of them, so I suggest you do not tangle with me anymore."

"That blonde one had nice flesh." The goblin king threw in as he gripped the sides of his throne and leaned forward excitedly. "I would like to see the life sucked out of him."

"Fine!" Kili threw his hands in the air and turned to her, protectiveness for his older brother flaring. "What?"

"I meant what I said earlier; I can make all of your problems go away if you give me one little thing."

Kili crossed his arms and raised a skeptical eyebrow. "And what might that be?"

"Your voice."

Kili slapped his hands on his thighs and snorted with laughter. "Then how am I supposed to..." he frowned. How could he interact with someone if he couldn't even speak?! "Forget it."

"I wasn't asking!" She screamed suddenly, a shock wave of light washing over the room which startled Kili for the slightest of moments. "And if your uncle hates you by the time this is over, you will belong to me. You will come and live down in my caves and be my slave. If he shows he genuinely cares for you by the time three months is over and does something to show it then you've won. I will release my slaves; I will release Selena."

That caught Kili's attention.

"You have her?!" He asked incredulously. "I thought she ran away!"

"She was looking for her mother and I caught her." She chuckled at his horrified expression and threw her head back before spinning to face him, whipping her hair behind her shoulder in the process. "You are so smart yet so oblivious. Come on, do it, I made a scroll just for you. Sign it if you agree." She pulled out something from what looked like nowhere to Kili and unrolled the small piece of paper that had all of the rules written on it. She clicked her fingers and a pen floated up off of the ground to where Kili would be able to reach it and she edged closer with the parchment held out. "Do we have a deal?"

She spoke the last words with a cogent tone, eyes boring deep into his at an attempt to add to the manipulation. Kili's eyes tried to roam around the room as he considered the offer. He felt like laughing. This was not a normal situation to find yourself in. He didn't remember signing up for this when his uncle reluctantly told him that he should come on the quest.

So, if he did it, there was a chance of the innocent slaves being released, or skanks as Bolg used to call them, Fili wouldn't get tortured and they'd all escape and he would get everything he could possibly dream of. However, there was a chance of...he didn't even know what.

Badness?

"Do it." She sung. "Do it. Do it."

Do it.

The goblins around him began to chant the simple two words around him, getting louder the longer Kili took to decide. The pressure was real and everyone around him began to move; the world felt like it was spinning. He had never felt this feeling before. He could hear his heartbeat in his ears. His stomach felt like it was flipping upside down in constant circles. His throat had a lump like after you dry swallow a big pill.

The cacophony of noise was like ear rape; the chant was still immensely increasing in volume as goblins began to circle around him in an attempt to overwhelm him, the howling of the goblin king rung out above all of his little scuttling followers and he could hear Nerissa's potent yells of convincement.

"Take the toll!" She cried. "Go ahead and sign the blasted scroll!" She waved it in his face and he could barely read the words as his vision blended and everything seemed to fuzz into one giant blob. "Sign it!"

He threw his hair back, grabbed the pen from the air and scribbled his name roughly on the empty space at the bottom. Nerissa squealed victoriously, excitement brewing and she held it in the air, cackling with a laughter that could only be described as wicked. "I've got him, boys!"

"He's done it! He's taken the gamble!" The goblin king exclaimed. "I wasn't expecting that!"

The goblins cheered and quieted their chanting died down simultaneously as Kili scowled. The pressure had been too high for his liking, and now regret for caving in was building in his stomach.

Kili had to lean all of his body weight backwards to stop himself from collapsing forward and retching. 

In that moment the villain seized the opportunity to grasp the prince around the neck with such force that no matter how much he wriggled or squirmed he could get her fingers to uncurl and release him. "Remember you have three months. I'm feeling quite generous, but then again when I think about your uncle I suppose in reality it is quite harsh. If you fail the guilt will crash down on your uncle like a bombshell, and your brother will be broken. The Durin line will be no more."

She closed her eyes, not loosening her grip and Kili needed to breathe. He was desperately gasping for air by the time she began to chant. It continued and every time he moved she would forcefully slam him back into position until a fresh ray of light emerged from her hand which transformed into yet another shockwave of blinding white light that washed over the room and everyone present felt the need to shut their eyes tightly until it was over. She finally tilted her head, a grin laced with pure evil splitting onto her physiognomy and she let her fingers uncurl from his throat so that he slowly fell to the floor, gagging.

Kili literally felt like his throat was torn in two. 

A lone tear fell from his eye. He never cried; it was something that showed weakness and in his short lifetime he had learnt that that was something he could not do. The results of it were disastrous.

The dwarf opened his mouth to scream at the woman but no sound came out. He furrowed his brow, for the second time in his life he felt true fear and he brought fingers up to his throat. His neck was hollow and felt completely raw when he swallowed. The witch watched him in amusement before spinning on her heels and walking to an unknown location behind the throne, leaving the lone dwarf kneeling helplessly in front of the goblin king as he continued to gag for much needed air.

The time she had spent with her fingers tightly gripping his throat had felt like a few seconds to her and the rest of the goblins but about five hours to Kili.

"Well, I'm not letting you escape, so I wish you the best of luck with your little situation there." the king told him. The dwarf looked up impotently and observed the familiar surroundings - there were no more flashing lights, no more sounds ringing in his ears - it was eerily quiet, except for the sound of the goblins chattering away to one another in excitement, but the most different thing was that the white hair was not attached to any figure surrounding him.

Kili wasn't sure whether to be angry or relieved.

* * *

Fili anxiously paced back and forth in the cell; his job as the older brother, as the protector wasn't going to fail now. His veins refueled with anger when he saw Thorin sat slumped on his bottom against the wall, doing nothing. He scoffed in annoyance and crossed his arms as he marched over. "It is your fault he is in this mess - now you have to get him out of it." He spat.

"Fili, relax, he'll be fine." Thorin reassured, absolutely zero worry was evident on his face that showed no emotion.

"Fine?! Thorin, in case you haven't noticed, he is being tortured! Shall I spell it out for you? Do you want me to get you a dictionary?!" He yelled in exasperation.

"Fili, that's enough lad." Balin called from the corner where he was helping Bofur and Gloin look for a weakness in the bars. Thorin placed a hand to his head in exhaustion. He had better not say anything. He'd better prove himself, he thought bitterly.

Fili growled and kicked a stone that was lying on the freezing cold gravel floor, and it made a loud clatter as it made contact with one of the bars, the sound echoing through the halls. He slumped against the wall, putting his face in his hands. He had just made things better with his brother - if he died now, it would be like losing him all over again. He had just started to unravel the gory details of his little brothers past, and all he wanted was to make everything right again. He was drawn out of his thoughts when he heard an excited squeal sound from the direction of the bars, and he looked up wearily in response.

"Thorin! Thorin! I think we've found something!" Bofur exclaimed excitedly. Thorin stood up with a grunt and observed what Bofur was talking about. One of the bars had a dent, it was much larger than he realised and it was breakable by a strong enough force.

"Well done, Bofur. If we sneak through the passageways we should get out unseen - Gloin, Dwalin, do the honours?" The two stepped forward and Fili stared at his uncle in shock.

"Are you kidding me right now?" He asked.

"What?" Thorin asked innocently.

"We have to get Kili, uncle!"

"We cannot risk all of our lives for the sake of one dwarf." Thorin answered, grimacing when he said the words 'one dwarf.'

"He is your kin!" Fili protested. "We are getting him - I don't care what you say! You will come and help me get him!"

Thorin crossed his arms, almost looking amused. "Or what, Fili?"

Fili sucked in an irritated breath. "Or you'll lose me. I am not sneaking through any tunnels without my brother by my side."

Thorin threw his head back in annoyance. He loved the golden heir more than anything, and knew that he couldn't bear to lose him. "Fine. We will get the runt and then what?"

"We go into many things without a plan." Fili barged past his uncle when he saw that they had ripped off the bars, the loud noise of the metal breaking away from where they were fixed into the wall sounded and he prayed that the goblins hadn't heard.

"He's right, Thorin. We can't exactly leave him here." Dwalin pointed out, and Thorin rolled his eyes. Dwalin cared about Kili, as did everyone in the company except for Thorin - Dwalin had helped raised the lad, teaching him his one true passion. Archery.

"I'm not." He replied. They snuck through the shadows, seemingly unseen until a large group of goblins walked down the hall and spotted them almost immediately. Fili's prayers were unanswered. 

"Oi!" The one at the front exclaimed. "You think you can escape our tunnels? Grab them." he ordered to his companions who immediately obeyed, manhandling every single one once again. "The King wants to see you all - pick the next one to torture, as he aint allowed to kill the one with the king. Besides, he won't be spilling information any time soon." he laughed evilly, his companions joining in.

"Why?" Fili spat.

"Quiet, Goldilocks!" He smacked Fili on the side of the face who groaned and Thorin suddenly felt angry, sucking in a breath to help swallow a retort. They once again got dragged over wooden rickety bridges, across the many platforms and in front of the irritatingly familiar throne, atop it a monster. 

"Well well well. We need to work on those cells." The King laughed. Fili's eyes searched for Kili and he spotted him, hanging from thick, metal cuffs that were bound to tight ropes that hung from the ceiling. His head was bowed, barely having acknowledged that they were there. His shirt hadn't been given back to him and was thrown on the floor carelessly, making Fili assume that he had been whipped. He tried to catch his eye, but Kili seemed to disorientated to do anything, his matted raven hair hung in front of his face and he looked as though he were trying to block out the world, but Fili could sense that his brown orbs were filled with...regret? Was it regret he saw? Regret for what?!

Oh Kee, our situation isn't your fault.

A goblin behind them, who was stood by the pile of weapons, noticed a sword lying on the floor. He picked it up, drawing it out of its sheath and everyone looked in his direction when a mix between a yelp and a squeal loudly sounded from his lips and he threw the sword in front of him as though it had scolded his hand. It clattered to the ground.

The great goblin climbed higher on his throne, seemingly terrified. "I know that sword!" He yelled. "It is the goblin cleaver! The biter! The blade that sliced a thousand necks! Slash them! Beat them! Kill them! Kill them all!" He screamed, goblins immediately started attacking all of the dwarves who fought back in annoyance. Thorin was forced to the ground, lying on his back and he looked up, squinting his eyes. "Cut off his head!" he pointed to Thorin, who struggled, no matter how much he knew that it was to no avail. A knife was held in front of his face and he eyed it as though challenging it. A sudden flash of light blinded everyone, the commotion abruptly drawing to a halt as they looked in the direction of the cause from where they lay on the floor, having been knocked down by the blinding rays.

A figure.

The familiar hat, staff, and robes gave it away for the dwarves and their assumptions were proven correct when everybody stood up and stared at Gandalf, light making its way back into the area. They immediately looked in the direction of their weapons.

"Take up arms. All of you, fight. Fight!"


	3. When Kili Saved Thorin

_"What are you two doing?" An innocent voice from behind the five beings interrupted their story and they glanced behind them, grinning at Ori._

_"Telling the story of how it all happened." Fili answered with a shy smile._

_"Anything you want to say? We're at the part where we were about to leave goblin town." Kili added._

_"All I remember was Kili acting weird and me falling off a tree. I thought I was going to die."_

_"Oh yeah, I remember that!" Kili exclaimed, smiling at the memory._

_"If it weren't for the eagles we've have been toast." The dwarf elaborated._

_"You rode an eagle? I wanna ride an eagle." The girl whined._

_"We haven't got to that part yet." Fili whispered._

_"Sorry." Ori meekly apologized._

_"Come sit. You can help us tell it."_

_The dwarf smiled at his friends and took a seat beside them in the breeze, listening to the soft humming in the blonde's voice as he continued the story, Ori chipping in when he felt he should._

* * *

The moment that Gandalf finished his sentence, Fili was on his feet. He darted over to his younger brother and hastily started to untie the ropes around his wrists with unpractised fingers, but to no avail. He frowned in annoyance and looked around, scanning his surroundings for Nori but instead he noticed Dwalin had began to chuck out each weapon in the pile to their rightful owner and as soon as Fili has his hands around a knife the sharp edges were slicing through the thick bounds and Kili fell to the floor. He rubbed his wrists, staring at the blue marks around them which showed how tight they had been. No wonder his hands felt numb from blood loss.

"Are you ok?" Fili asked hurriedly. Kili nodded in response and looked around to see where they were supposed to go. "Does anywhere hurt?" The archer shook his head. "So...charades?" Fili joked slightly at his brother's strange silence who pushed the blonde forward and into the crowd when a shout from Thorin met their ears, putting them back into fight mode.

"Fili! Hurry!" 

The blonde nodded at curtly at his uncle and grabbed Kili's wrist in a lock grip, hauling him forward and dragging him through twists and turns, following Gandalf as well as they possibly could, whilst killing goblins on the way. Well...Fili was killing every goblin and Kili was attempting to do so with one hand, but Fili was as stubborn as his uncle and refused to let go, meaning Kili was starting to feel a little like a rag doll. He kicked out with his feet though, knocking the goblin that had pulled out the goblin cleaver sword over the edge and to his presumed doom.

Fili was eventually forced to let go when they were on a separate platform to everyone else and too many enemies were surrounding them for just one opponent. The creatures started shooting arrows at Kili, and he deflected most of them with his sword until a reckless and stupid idea crept into his mind. He ran to the side, grabbing a ladder as a shield and the company - now on the same platform - joined him, helping the archer tip it over and charge through the vile creatures, knocking an uncountable amount over the edge, and when they came to the end of that ground they leapt onto another platform, using the item as a crossway.

They went from bridge to bridge, all the while keeping their eyes on Gandalf, though this was hard for every five seconds he seemed to be changing direction, rounding a corner or ducking a blow and his unmistakable hat always swam out of view. Kili still didn't have his bow, yet he spotted it in Dwalin's clutch a while away, obviously not having been able to hand it over to the young dwarf. A goblin was approaching behind Fili and Kili shouted his name, but no sound left his throat. Foul curses spewed from his lips over and over though they didn't sound and he yanked a dagger out of his boot, lobbing it at the filth that fell to the ground like he deserved and Fili looked backwards in surprise before nodding a silent thank you to his brother. Eventually they made it to an area where they were half way over a bridge, interrupted in their path by the goblin king falling from out of nowhere and landing in front of them, the wood beneath them shaking uncontrollably.

"What are you going to do now, wizard?" It asked smugly. All that Kili wanted was for the monster to die, and hoped desperately that Gandalf has some form of plan. His wishes were granted when the wizard drew his sword, slitting the stomach of the large creature who squealed, and then it's throat was sliced.

"That'll do it." he confirmed before falling sideways off of the edge. The dwarves fell with his weight though and the bridge crumbled so that they landed in a large heap on the floor, with wooden planks and dust enveloping them in a stack.

"Well that could have been worse." Bofur exclaimed, trying to lighten the mood but only seemed to jinx mahal's plans as the great goblin landed with a crash on top of them, crushing them even more, causing the groans to re-sound. Kili noted the amount of goblins that were running in their direction and went to yell before he realised his situation and nudged his brother who saw what he was looking at.

"Gandalf!" he called, and the wizard nodded, telling them that only daylight could save them in that moment. Kili was yanked forward to run with the rest of the company until they finally broke out into the sunlight that had been mocking them every second that they were in those filthy caves as glimmers of it shone brightly through any possible cracks to remind them of how vulnerable they had been. Everyone sighed in relief, trying to catch their breaths. They were safe for now. Gandalf started to count to see if everyone was present. Fili seized that moment to check on Kili and turned to his brother.

"Did they hurt you?" Kili shook his head. "Kili, will you say something for mahals sake!" Kili frowned about how to explain before bringing a hand to his throat. _I can't_ he mouthed, and the furrow laced on Fili's brows deepend.

"Why?" he asked, and Kili blew some stray hair out of his face in irritation. Fili cocked his head in deep concern so Kili tapped his throat with two fingers, confusing the blonde even more.

Thorin interrupted the strange conversation by strolling over to his eldest nephew, intentionally ignoring the brunette and made a huge deal out of standing directly in front of him. "Are you okay?" He asked Fili.

 _In case you're wondering I did survive too_ , Kili thought to himself bitterly.

"Yes, thank you uncle." the blonde dwarf replied politely. "That was close."

"It certainly was." His uncle muttered. They looked up at the murmurings going on around them and everyone appeared to be looking for something. The previously distracted trio knew exactly what when Gandalf asked where their hobbit was.

Fili and Kili looked around themselves, frowning when their small burglar wasn't in view.

"Curse that hafling! Now he's lost." Dwalin spat.

"I thought he was with Dori!" Gloin declared accusingly.

"Don't blame me!" Dori fired back innocently.

"Well where did you last see him?" the wizard demanded.

"I think I saw him slip away when they first collared us." Nori stated.

"And what happened, exactly?" Fili noted how much the wizard cared for the young hobbit, and opened his mouth to make a suggestion but clamped it shut when his uncle stepped forward and started to speak.

"I'll tell you what happened. Master Baggins saw his chance and he took it. He has thought of nothing but his soft bed and his warm hearth since he first stepped out of his door. We will not be seeing our hobbit again. He is long gone." Kili glanced at his brother in true upset before looking away. The hobbit _couldn't_ be gone. Bilbo had owned the courage to stall three giant mountain trolls for mahal's sake! Kili and Fili may have got them into that mess, and Kili may have saved his life, but they would have been cooked alive if it wasn't for their burglar, as the blasted wizard wouldn't have showed up in time.

"Actually he isn't." The source of the mysterious yet familiar voice stepped proudly out from behind a tree whence he had hidden, listening to his dwarven companions converse. Kili smiled happily, relief washing over him at seeing their friend alive, and could see Fili with a giant grin on his face, probably at the fact that his uncle was wrong. Weight blew out of everyone's shoulders, and the tension seemed to die, yet build at the same time.

"Bilbo Baggins!" Gandalf greeted with a chuckle."I have never been so glad to see anyone in my life."

"How on Earth did you get past the goblins?" Fili questioned after a moment.

"How indeed." Dwalin murmured. Bilbo chuckled slightly, before putting a hand in his pocket ready to pull something out. Kili noticed this little gesture, and also saw how Gandalf spoke to stop him from revealing whatever in the world he had hidden in there.

"Well what does it matter? He's back."

"It matters. I want to know." Thorin stepped forward as everyone gave him their attention. Kili had found slight amusement when it came to the relationship between his uncle and their burglar on the duration of the quest, always finding some satisfaction out of watching them confer. "Why did you come back?" The hobbit paused for a minute, before speaking when the clogs in his brain halted and he figured out what he wanted to say.

"Look, I know you doubt me. I know you always have. And you're right, I often think of Bag-end. I miss my books. And my armchair and my garden. See, that's where I belong. That's home. And that's why I came back. Because you don't have one. A home. It was taken from you. But I will help you take it back if I can." He finished with a small smile, and Thorin looked down, but Fili could tell he approved no matter how much he wouldn't admit it. His heart pined slightly at the thought that he didn't have home - the only home he had ever known was their small cottage back in the blue mountains, where he lived with his uncle and sometimes brother. Well, mostly brother. Except for the five years that he had disappeared, and Fili was determined to find out what events occured in that long stretch of time. The sad yet happy silence was interrupted by a howl in the distance and the sound of warg footsteps approaching them.

"Out of the frying pan..." Thorin murmured.

"And into the fire." Gandalf finished for him. "Run...run!" And the next thing they knew they were charging down the hill. Kili knew for a fact that they would be out run soon enough, but where was the harm in trying? Bilbo crouched under a rock when a warg bounded over his head, and spun around, bearing it's razor sharp teeth at him threateningly, before lunging towards him. Kili moved to interfere but didn't need to when the hobbit held out his sword and it stabbed straight into the wargs forehead, who squealed, and Kili smiled triumphantly, even though he was fairly certain that it was accidental.

Fili yanked his wrist forward and pulled him towards the edge of a cliff, with a couple of large trees were towering over it's lofty edge. "Up into the trees! All of you!" Gandalf yelled. Kili felt Fili swing him up, and held out a hand to assist his brother, who took it and the two scrambled higher and higher. "Come on, climb! Bilbo climb!" The wizard hissed, and soon everyone was up as the wargs continued to approach them, but what made everyone's heart drop was seeing Azog ride up, an evil smirk on his face as his snow white warg growled threateningly. For many of the dwarves it was like they were reliving the past; the horror of the battle of Azanulbizar.

"Azog." Thorin said as though he was seeing a ghost. _I mean, he kind of is_ , Kili thought.

Azog stroked his warg as he talked ominously. **"Do you smell it? the scent of fear?"** Azog asked his fellow orcs, though Kili understood every word that he spoke and hid himself behind a branch, trying his hardest to stay out of view of the eyes of the enemy. **"I remember your father reeked of it, Thorin son of Thrain."** He continued menacingly as he smiled, baring his disgusting omber teeth. Thorin's glare increased all the more, though his face looked stricken with grief at the mention of his father.

"It cannot be." He murmured. Azog just smirked, and his eyes stopped on noticing the young dwarf that tried his hardest to camouflage his body with the branch, but as he had assumed, it was not enough.

 **"I remember you Kili, son of Dis."** He spoke, and everyone looked at Kili for a translation who just looked down and bit his lip in annoyance that he had been spotted. **"I thought my son killed you."** He looked surprised when the dwarf didn't answer. **"What ever is the matter? Cat got your tongue? Normally you would bite my head off."** Kili just stared at him helplessly.

"What's going on?" Fili questioned quickly.

"What is he saying, Kili?" Thorin asked. The dwarf just swallowed, wishing with anything that he could spit out the vile remark that was swirling in his brain right in that very moment. Azog shook his head. **"Bolg."** he called. Kili leant his body weight backwards at seeing the orc once again, Fili's hand on his shoulder the only thing that stopped him from falling backwards and to a painful death. He felt his whole body collapse with the memories that rushed through his brain and the tension that his body was suddenly holding.

"What's going on?" Fili asked again, and when he got no response he sighed in irritation.

"Kill the archer." Azog told Bolg in common tongue, who nodded with a snivel eagerly, causing Fili to reach out a protective arm. " **That one is mine, kill the others!"** Azog called, pointing to Thorin with his mace before addressing the rest of his companions who all charged forward. Wargs leapt up, tearing off branch after branch, the ones low enough that their jaws could rip off, causing the dwarves to scream and all were forced to climb higher. Kili clung on for dear life when an orc tore off the branch that he was standing on, and he swung his legs up and curled them around another branch, his core strength enough that he could pull himself up with practised ease. Thorin rolled his eyes - he had forgotten his youngest nephew was basically that of an elf. The bottom of the tree suddenly started to tear from the ground, and was starting to lean over with a creek. Everyone dived into the other tree, and then the next, and by the time the falling had stopped three trees had taken a merry tumble off of the cliff, leaving thirteen dwarves, a hobbit and a wizard cramped on the one tree that towered high over the cliff edge, all attempting to escape the jaws of death. Azog laughed menacingly at their situation. Gandalf set fire to a pinecone and lobbed it in the direction of the wargs, flames emerging from the ground as sparks spat in the air, the wargs stepping back with a snarl, eyeing the mix of red, orange and yellow that blurred into one large weapon as if challenging it.

"Fili!" Gandalf called and when Fili was holding the flaming pine cone it was much hotter than he had expected, and he had to throw it up a couple of times before he had his eye on where he wanted it to land and he threw it angrily, flames bursting like a shockwave and it spread and spread, the more the dwarves threw them. Azog roared with anger, and the dwarves all laughed, Kili smiling at Dori for their short-lived victory before he noticed the tree start to fall. It ended up hanging off of the edge, but what concerned Kili the most is that Ori was clinging onto Dori's foot who was clinging onto a branch, trying to get his grip as steady as possible which was extremely difficult. Kili couldn't reach them to lend a hand. He clung tighter to the branch that he was holding and his heart stopped for a second when Dori lost his grip, but Gandalf was quick enough to point his staff in their direction and Dori was now grasping hold of that, knuckles turning an unnatural shade of white.

Kili accidentally caught Bolg's eye who gestured to the edge of the hecticness, and Kili frowned, following his gaze to same bare ground. The filth was demanding battle. Kili slowly and cautiously pulled his agile body up and slipped off of the edge of the tree, walking slowly to where the orc was stood, still glaring at him. Bolg's deep breaths only held fury, and Kili's held anxiety, though all he wanted was for this orc to die. Fili watched his brother leave with a sense of delirious abandonment directed at himself by the one he loved most - _what in mahal's name was Kili doing?!_ He called his name but the dwarf didn't respond, seemingly busy facing down his own enemy, showing no interest in the company whatsoever now. It was like he had forgotten they were there. Kili had been on the edge, and it was easy for him to get his feet back on the dry ground, yet Fili was still clinging for dear life onto a branch. He blew a breath out of his clenched teeth in annoyance as he continued to grind them together - Kili hadn't uttered a word since goblin town, and Fili had no idea what he had done, but surely it couldn't be that bad that Kili wouldn't talk to him?!

As Kili eyed his enemy, he wondered if this would be the day he died. To tell the truth, he wasn't at all ready to die, but the more he thought about it, what did he have to live for?! He had no voice, he was supposed to uphold a deal in most certainly not enough time, a deal which he knew would generally be impossible, and the company now knew he was scarred. The pain. The bitterness. The _shame_. They had seen his scars, and they knew he could speak a tongue that all in Middle-Earth except for orcs and goblins feared, and cringed at just hearing a word of it. _Fili_ , he thought. _I have to live for my brother_.

Bolg was the first to attack, lunging at the young dwarf who dodged the blow with ease and kicked Bolg in the groin who clutched it in anger. His sword struck Kili in the shin who fell to the floor, and Bolg scrambled up and on top of the dwarf who held out his hands to stop the sword form stabbing him in the chest. He silently yelped as the blade cut deeply into the flesh on his hands, and he did the only thing he could think of; he leant all his body weight to the side, Bolg's blade digging into the ground, before he grabbed his own sword from the floor and was on top of Bolg in a second. He was just about to deal the final blow to his worst enemy when something very concerning caught his eye.

Fili screamed his uncle's name before stopping the noise from spilling out of his lips and he stared helplessly as Thorin glared Azog in the eye, before confidence, fury, and grief soared through his veins and he was pushing himself away from the trunk and charging down the log. Fili shook his head - his uncle scolded Kili for being reckless - had he met himself?! Fili screamed in pain, not for himself but for his uncle when the king's walk broke into a run and he raised his sword, Azog warg leaping off of the rock and strucking his face, knocking the air out of his lungs as he fell to the ground in pain. Fili tried to clamber up the tree, but Dwalin put a hand on his shoulder to refrain him from helping, and Fili could only watch as the white wargs sharp jaws locked around Thorin's limp body and crushed, causing only searing pain and cries of distress from friends and family. An orc stepped forward, knife raised, very ready to execute their leaders enemy.

Thoughts whirled in Kili's mind, as he hesitated in killing Bolg due to the sight of his uncle about to be beheaded. His recklessness caused him to run. Run as fast as he ever thought he had so that his body ploughed into the orc that was about to end the life of his uncle, causing it to fall just as the blade was about to touch Thorin's exposed neck. The dwarves blinked a few times, completely stunned at the raven haired dwarf who ran into view, lowering his sword, the wargs all glaring daggers at him.

Fili smiled slightly, before lifting himself up and charging, along with some of his fellow companions, into the raging battle. Kili stood in front of Thorin's exposed body as a shield, challenging any warg or orc that dared lock eyes with him. His bow was thrown to him and he smiled, though he realized that a sword would still be of better use to him in this kind of battle. He looked at his brother who had his dual swords drawn, and was fighting with everything he had in him, completely formidably. He fought for his uncle, his brother, his life, Erebor, and mostly to avenge any soul who had suffered, or died, due to the clutches that these creatures held on pain.

Azog growled in complete hatred. **"I thought I told you to kill the archer!"** He hissed. **"No matter, I will do it myself."** He edged closer to Kili, and in that moment all he could think about was how terrified he was. Not because Azog was running towards him with his sword raised in pure anger, a menacing smile playing on his lips that curled back to reveal disgusting teeth, nor because Bolg sat on the floor in pain, ready to shoot the young dwarf with his bow, nor because his friends and family could get killed in this moment in time - he was terrified because he had kept his secret for years on end, and now there was no way he would be able to keep it. What worried him more was he wouldn't be able to describe anything - he wouldn't be able to explain, to...he didn't even know, offer comfort?

He shook his head free of the thoughts as he dodged Azog's sword attack, before using his weapon to block another one and his arm strength pushed the force into the smoke - filled air beside him. Azog growled in irritation, and Fili and Dwalin shielded the young dwarf from the pouncing wargs as the black haired archer himself shielded their leaders body with everything that he had in him. However, he didn't have to keep it up for long. Out of absolutely nowhere he saw an eagle snatch up his brother from the ground, and Kili looked on in confusion before he felt himself being lifted in the air until the talons uncurled from around his body and dropped him onto the soft feathers of another fellow creature.

"Kee." Fili sighed in relief. "You're ok." Kili nodded and smiled, checking his brother over for injuries. The blonde looked forward, eyes darting back and forth for the eagle that had snatched the injured warrior up into its talons and flown away. "Thorin!" He cried upon seeing him hanging limp and motionless in the claws of the eage up front. Kili looked on sadly - _come on mahal, please don't tell me I just did all of that for him to die now._

"Ok, so are you finally going to tell me what in the world happened back there?!" Fili demanded, and Kili was surprised at how fast his mood had changed. He shook his head, and Fili blew out an annoyed breath through his clenched teeth once again - _why wasn't his brother talking to him?!_ He noticed the concern etched on his little brothers face and his features softened a lot. He grinned at the realization that Kili could possibly be worried about Thorin.

"That was brave you know." he declared. "After everything that has happened between you two." Kili went to reply and then realized he couldn't, and threw his head back in irritation. Thinking about it, too much had happened between him and Thorin, but for stupid reasons. Kili was sorry that after his birth his mother died, Kili was sorry that he looked like Frerin and that caused Thorin grief, Kili was sorry that his natural behavior was more elf like than anything else, he was sorry if he was a disgrace to his uncle! But, Kili was not sorry that he was born. The world was too small, life was too short, and in that moment, feeling the air blow hard into his face as his arms reached out to dance with the wind, he realized that he should appreciate life so much more.

His thought trail ended when the eagle came to a stop upon a massive structure that was shaped like a bear - the Carrok, Gandalf called it. The eagle carrying Thorin gently deposited him with care onto a flatter area before soaring away with his fellow companions. Fili and Kili slid off of their one and joined the circle of concerned dwarves that were crowding the unconscious one. Gandalf put a hand above Thorin's face and muttered a spell, and after a while Thorin's eyelids fluttered and then cracked open as he looked around wearily.

"Wh...what happened? Who pushed the orc out of the way?" Thorin questioned through a groan.

Gandalf smiled proudly. "It was your nephew. He is here - he is safe." The wizard explained. Thorin arose with a grunt and clasped Fili on the shoulder.

"Thank you." he murmured, furrowing his brow when Fili frowned.

"Er...uncle it wasn't me." Thorin spun around on his heels and stared at his youngest nephew.

"But why? Why would you?" he asked, with a confused head shake. _Because you're my family_ , Kili thought. _And I didn't want to see you dead_. Kili wished he could answer, and bought a hand up to his throat, trying to stop the brewing tears. He _never_ cried. "Will you not speak to me?" The warrior asked, the thought that his youngest nephew physically couldn't speak not crossing his mind. "I should be the one to speak. I always said that you would be a burden, did I not? I was correct. You could have died back there. I always said you should never have left home." Thorin approached Kili who bit his bottom lip in shame as the company just watched the scene in disbelief. "I have never been so wrong in all my life." The dwarf finished, pulling Kili into a tight embrace who was surprised for a moment, before leaning into it and slightly and hesitantly returned the gesture that he hadn't been offered from his uncle in over fifty years. Kili knew that he would never truly forgive his uncle, and wanted the guilt to burn within the dwarf forever, but he needed this, no matter how much he didn't want to admit it.

Most of the company had tears in their eyes at watching this unfold and Fili beamed, looking to the side he noticed Balin staring fixedly at something that wasn't the hug. He looked up and opened his mouth in complete and utter awe. Thorin strode forward speechless as he too gazed at something in the far distance.

"Is that what I think it is?" Bilbo breathed in surprise as he gazed over the horizon of green that carpeted the ground as far as the eye could see, and to the peak that was the most eye-catching thing visible in the sky.

"Erebor." Gandalf told them "The Lonely Mountain. The last of the great dwarf kingdoms of Middle-Earth."

Thorin smiled and patted Fili and Kili on their backs. "Our home."


	4. When They Met The Skin-Changer

_"He was so mad at_ _himself." Fili continued. "He thought that Kili wouldn't speak to him."_

_The kids giggled at this as Kili smirked. "I thought he wouldn't tell anyone." From out of nowhere Balin stood behind them, a cheery grin on his face. "Tried to tell ya that there was no shame in asking for help. I got that wrong, laddie."  
_

_Kili smiled at him. "Its fine."  
_

_Gloin strolled after his friend and stood beside the toymaker, frowning at the scene. "What is this, a meeting?"_

_"I wonder how many times you're gonna have to explain this today." Kili muttered as Fili breathed a laugh._

_"It's just a story."_

_"Ok." Gloin crossed his arms, an amused spark of acceptance floating through his eye. "I want to hear."_

* * *

Walking side by side with his nephews down the Carrok made Thorin Oakenshield for once in his life feel like he had found peace. His mind was overflowing with thoughts - he had just been saved by his nephew whom he had spent his life despising, when he was more sure than he had ever been that he was going to die. Guilt started to overwhelm him as he thought... _truly_ thought in great detail about Kili, and a large level of culpability crept further into the picture the more and more that he thought about it. When he had been lying there, accepting his fate as he closed his eyes, all he could think about was his nephew.

_"Come on Fee!" A seven year old Kili laughed. "You are supposed to be chasing me!"_

_"I'm tired Kee!" Fili whined as he chased after his brother with a head shake. The duo ran wildly across the green carpet which their uncle had taught them was called a meadow, and they frowned at the sight that they spotted at the edge of the field by the rushing river as they stopped dead in their tracks, Fili finally being able to stagger over to the bundle of energy that he called his little brother. A small child, whom they recognized as one of Bofur's regular toy shop visitors, stood a ways off from them right by the river edge and the brothers wondered what in mahal's name she was doing._

_"Luna?" Fili called. The girl in question turned around and giggled. She looked about two years of age._

_"The rapids are hwuge in the middwe!" She exclaimed, before jumping in the water, completely unaware that the current would take her. Kili didn't even think about what he was doing as he was already in the water. Fili gasped and went to dive in after him when a hand held him back._

_"Uncle let me go!" Fili cried, wriggling in his grip._

_"Hush. You are not going in there too!" Thorin hissed. Kili grasped the wrist of the young screaming child and dragged her to the edge as he wildly kicked, trying to avoid the fall of the large waterfall in front of them. The mother scooped her child out from the edge and cradled her close, whilst Kili grasped onto a broken log and swung himself up, panting as he stood up and walked over to the reunited family._

_"Are you ok?" He asked the little girl, who nodded shyly._

_"I cannot thank you enough." the mother said earnestly. Thorin and Fili joined the merry fray._

_"Kili you idiot!" Fili scolded. "You could have died!"_

_"Well I didn't." Kili said stubbornly, making Fili roll his eyes, and looked to Thorin who offered a smile and gave him a nod of approval._

Having come back to reality on the Carrok, Thorin thought about many things. Kili saved a two year old little girl from drowning when he was only five years old himself, and Thorin had given him a _nod of approval?!_ He cursed himself, guilt swirling in his gut like a constant reminder of the fact that he was the worst uncle a child could ask for. Kili was so selfless, once so full of life and Thorin Oakenshield himself had destroyed that, and a frown formed on his countenance. No wonder Kili didn't want to speak to him. His mind drifted back to the night of that hectic event.

_Kili smiled happily as he watched Fili attempt to make spaghetti. He had been determined to learn to cook, and Thorin was upstairs so Fili thought he would surprise his uncle. He filtered the sloppy yellow string in a sift before putting it extremely unevenly on three plates. Kili snickered but didn't say anything, for he would have spilt it within the first minute of his attempt. Fili walked over to the sauce and the pan was surprisingly hot, so he dropped it with a yelp, sauce caking the working top in crimson._

_"Kee, go and get uncle!" Fili exclaimed as he grabbed a dishcloth and attempted to clean up the mess. Kili did his task, entering his uncle's room to see him looking fixedly at something._

_"Uncle? There's been a spillage." Kili declared, and Thorin didn't answer. Kili walked over to him. "Hellooo?" he asked. "Uncle, Fili may have b...."_

_"Kili! Can you not be quiet for one minute?!" Thorin spat in irritation._

_"But there's been a...." Kili stumbled back when he was cut off mid-sentence by the back of someone's rough hand connecting with his soft cheek. His eyes widened and tears formed in his wide, confused eyes and he found himself running out of the room, leaving no room for Thorin to say anything else. He ran down the stairs and out of the back door where he knew Fili wouldn't see._

Serves him right _,_ _Thorin thought bitterly._ I couldn't save my brother that day, and Kili killed my the only sibling I had left when she gave birth to the thing, and now he wanders around, trying to replace my brother by looking the spitting image of him. _Thorin felt a tang of guilt, but shook it away as he stared at the photo of him and his siblings_. It's his fault, _Thorin thought repeatedly_. It's his fault. It's his fault _._ _These three words implanted themselves in his brain, and he didn't realise that from that day on that his eyes were blind to any other characteristics in his youngest nephew._

_"Wait, he did what?" Balin asked, cradling the small child who was sniffing on his knee, whilst Dwalin watched silently from the corner, a look of sadness evident on his face._

_"He..he h...hit me." The child cried as Balin hugged him close, the two rocking back and forth slowly as pity took over the tutor's facial features._

_"Kili, don't worry, we'll uh...talk to him." Dwalin stated. "I'm sure there was a reason." The hunky dwarf defended his friend, though he felt doubtful and would resent Thorin if he ever gave out at any child, even if they did something wrong._

_That night, Dwalin and Balin returned the child who held his chin high and confidently as he walked through the door, his brother falling to his knees and hugging him. Thorin eyed him from the corner and shook his head in irritation._ Fili can't love him. That brat just demands attention. This ends soon.

_Fili observed the dull atmosphere in confusion as he ate with his silent family at the dinner table, oblivious to the fact that Thorin had lashed out at his brother, but he knew something had happened and he begged them to make up but they refused. This broke the blonde dwarfs heart and he didn't know it, but his brother's too. Balin and Dwalin had tried to speak to the exiled king, but he waved them off and said that he would never do such a thing, though neither brother could deny that they had seen the nasty red mark forming on Kili's cheek._

Thorin shook his head and silently ordered for his tears to stay where they were, something he had practised a lot as he always seemed to have to still his emotions, and he looked to the side at his nephew. "Kili?" He asked. No reply. "Kili?" He tried again. Kili looked at him to show he was listening. "Why won't you speak to me?"

"He won't speak to me either." Fili spoke up straight away, looking pointedly at his brother. "Kili...what is going on?" The young dwarf bit his bottom lip and tapped his throat, glancing to the sky in annoyance as if it would help him answer.

"You have a sore throat?" Thorin asked. Kili shook his head and slapped a hand to his forehead, whilst uncle and eldest nephew exchanged confused glances. 

"He hasn't made a sound since goblin town, I don't think." Fili murmured, concern evident on his physiognomy.

Gandalf walked over, something that Kili was thankful for as the conversation was forced to come to a halt. "How are we all holding up?" he asked cheerily.

"Good." Fili mumbled.

"Fine." Thorin agreed.

Kili just nodded and offered a small smile. "Kili, I was hoping to catch a word?" The brunette in question uncertainly followed to avoid seeming rude. "Are you ok, laddie? Everyone is shaken from seeing those nasty scars of yours. We want to know where you got them from." He could see Kili avoiding his eyes. The archer merely shrugged and looked the other way. Balin sighed deeply. "If those things did something to yer you should tell Oin. There is no shame in asking for help; there is a difference between showing pain and weakness, you know."

Kili blew a lock of hair from his eye in irritation. Gandalf ambled behind the two, listening to the conversation in interest.

"One time, yer uncle got captured by orcs and they beat him. That day was a blur, but when we got him back he didn't tell anyone about the scars that he received. Then he collapsed because they got infected and he was severely ill after that. My point being, not telling people about injuries ends bad. They don't look like the type of scars that have had proper treatment."

Kili shrugged again and Balin rolled his eyes slightly. "It doesn't help if you don't talk about it either."

Kili opened his mouth to fire back a reply when he realised his situation and closed his lips, looking down at the floor sadly. "What's wrong?" Balin asked. Kili shook his head and tapped his throat. "You can't speak?" Kili confirmed this by a simple, upset nod. "Was it..." he began to ask before they crashed into the company in front of them who had come to an abrupt halt at a hand signal from Thorin who realised that they had made it to the foot of the Carrok.

"Wizard." he rounded on Gandalf, realising that they could continue no further because wargs had strong, practised noses and probably knew exactly where they were. "The orcs are still on our tails. We can't go until we know where they are."

"Why, then we'll send Bilbo."

"The hafling?" Thorin asked in disapproval as said burglar looked up at the mention of his name.

"That's what he's here for."

Thorin grumbled his doubts but rounded on Bilbo with hunched shoulders. "Go and scout ahead. Get back as quickly as possible. Do not be seen, hobbit, or I swear something bad might happen to you."

Bilbo gulped. "Got it." he squeaked before scurrying away to do his appointed task. 

They waited impatiently for Bilbo to return from his little mission, and when he did he looked panicked, but Kili noted that everyone was completely oblivious to this. As they had waited Balin hadn't pressed on the matter, presumably trying to piece together in his mind what how in mahal's name what he had figured out was possible. Murmurings broke throughout them as they all praised the hobbit for being silent on his feet, including Gandalf who was proud of his choice to bring Bilbo on the quest. He told them that the pack was relatively close, and Kili yearned for someone to yell for them to get moving. He wasn't in the mood for another battle. The hobbit stuttered as he carried on trying to speak. "Shut up!" Fili exclaimed, reading his brothers mind and Kili thankfully flicked a smile in his direction.

"Thank you, Fili." The hobbit breathed in relief. "I am trying to tell you that there is something else out there."

"What form did it take? Like a bear?" Gandalf questioned worriedly.

"Y...yes but bigger. Much bigger!" He got louder as he spoke.

"I say we double back." Bofur suggested. 

"And get run down by a pack of orcs?" Thorin debated.

Gandalf watched them converse, though he didn't appear to be listening as he looked around thoughtfully. "There is a house not far from here, where we may take refuge."

"Whose house?" Thorin inquired. "Are they friend or foe?"

"Neither." Gandalf stated bluntly. "He will help us, or he will kill us."

"What choice do we have?" Thorin asked. A terrifying roar rang through their ears from in the distance, and Kili tensed, knowing the answer to his uncle's query. _Can't they let us rest for at least one minute?!_

"None." The wizard answered and so they were off once again, darting hurriedly across fields, around streams, through a small forest and towards a house that nobody could actually see, though Gandalf assured them that it was there. Bombur seemed to refuel with energy and Kili was surprised how fast he could sprint, considering when Kili first met him he wondered how he even could walk, let alone outrun a bunch of twelve other sprinting dwarves. They made it to the outside of the house, the bear soundedly still close behind them.

"Get inside, all of you!" The wizard ordered, and they hastily obeyed. They door was stuck, two forces pushing it in two directions, as the bear had made it to them before they could completely slam the door shut. The peak of its snout was demanding a taste of their flesh as he fought against the door, and the dwarves were all yelling as they pushed against the force, determined not to let it win. Kili punched its snout forcefully, knocking it back and the door was able to shut. Sighs of relief and exhaustion broke out throughout the dwarves and Ori was the first to ask the question that everyone was wondering.

"What is that?!"

"That is our host." Gandalf replied calmly, though he looked very uncertain. The dwarves turned to look at him in confusion, and he explained the situation further. "His name is Beorn, he’s a skin-changer. Sometimes he’s a huge black bear, sometimes he’s a great strong man. The bear is unpredictable, but the man can be reasoned with. However, he is not over fond of dwarves." Kili looked around, noting the fact that none of the dwarves seemed to have ever seen a skin-changer before, and this surprised Kili, for he had seen many and he was only seventy seven!

"He’s leaving!" Ori exclaimed, who was standing closest to the door and could hear the muffled footsteps of the bear hesitantly backing away.

Dori stomped over and yanked him away from the door. "Come away from there! It’s not natural, none of it. It’s obvious, he’s under some dark spell." He told the company. Over-protective brothers, Kili thought.

"Don't be a fool." Gandalf told him. "He's under no enchantment but his own." He removed his hat and looked around the room doubtfully. Fili took hold his brothers wrist and pulled him to a corner of the room. They both learned that on the duration of the quest that being against something, preferably a corner, was their favourite way of dozing. Especially when they could curl up cosily together. "Alright now, get some sleep all of you. You’ll be safe here tonight." he ordered, before looking out. "I hope."

"Does he think we didn't hear that?!" Fili hissed to his brother, who shrugged and smiled slightly, nudging his brother playfully before he relaxed into the warmth that Fili provided. Nerissa's words played over and over in his head, like a nightmare that he couldn't ditch. I have so much to sleep on, he thought to himself as he closed his eyes, finding it annoyingly difficult to succumb to the darkness.

* * *

The next morning, the skin changer served them breakfast quite resentfully and he explained how he hated dwarves, but orcs much more. He also explained that Azog had killed most of his family, though some had been enslaved. Fili stared at the overly large mug of ale in front of him, not that he was complaining. He listened intently to the stories that Beorn told to nobody in particular of his enslavery, as he begrudgingly raised his left wrist to show them the remnants of manacles. "It wasn't just us." Beorn continued. "In the arena, I was forced to watch fighting from the outskirts, as I was thankfully never actually required to enter the arena and fight. Many died, of course, more so men and elves as there was much less dwarf. In my opinion, dwarves are greedy and blind, but I do make exceptions for only one, though most believe that he is just a legend. But not me." The skin-changer looked down sadly, and Kili bit his bottom lip. _I'm pretty sure I saved this guy._

Thorin was rather intrigued, to be honest with himself. He felt pity for his back story, though he was curious about the slavery thing. "Of whom do you speak?" he asked, continuing the conversation. He looked right at Beorn's face and saw a stern mask but behind he could see grief. This he knew because he felt exactly the same, plus too much guilt for him to handle.

"Of Akim." Beorn replied. Fili's eyes snapped to his brother who looked down awkwardly.

"The legend?" Thorin questioned further as Beorn nodded.

"I saw him once. Well, I saw a flick of his hair - he was covered by a black hood, but he had raven coloured hair. He saved me from a barlog outside the arena that had escaped, and I will be forever grateful." Beorn explained.

Fili listened intently and remembered what Kili had told him before they entered the misty mountains.

_Kili walked side by side with his brother behind the company. They had just left Rivendell and the archer felt brighter than he had in days - Fili and him had finally talked. Properly talked, restarting their friendship in a smooth way. He did notice the constant glances of disapproval that Thorin shot in their direction what seemed like every five seconds but he didn't care. Not one bit._

_A howl in the distance put everyone immediately in high alert, as weapons were drawn and murmurings brewed. Nobody knew what the noise was, aside Kili who knew what he had to do. As Thorin lead everyone away, though they took precautions, Kili let himself linger in the back before darting away as fast as possible._

_Fili turned around to check on Kili and began to panic when his searching eyes couldn't lay themselves on the familiar brown mop of hair. "Where is Kili?" he asked out loud. Thorin, who was leading, spun around and scoffed in annoyance._

_"That reckless dwarf." he spat. "Can he do nothing else aside seek danger?"_

_"We have to go after him!" Fili exclaimed desperately._

_"No. We did not come on this quest to save Kili from his recklessness. We move on."_

_"But..." Fili began but Thorin turned on his heels and stalked away. Fili sighed and hung back, turning around to move but a hand on his arm stopped him._

_"I know what you are trying, but don't. He will die, and we don't need both of Oakenshields nephews dying to those creatures."_

_"He is my brother, Gandalf." Fili told him as he began to run in the direction of the sound, whilst Gandalf sighed and followed. They saw the giant creatures up ahead and crouched out of sight, or so they thought, behind the bushes._

_"Barlogs." Gandalf murmured, still gripping Fili's arm to top him wriggling away and helping. "Ancient demons. Those who even I cannot fight."_

_Fili gasped as he stared at his brother who stood in front of three giant barlogs with no weapons in his hands at all. One slashed its fiery whip at Kili which he dodged, running behind its ankle and stabbing his sword into the back of it as another whip from another barlog slashed in his direction. He used his sword to hit the whip into the leg of the barlog that he was stood behind and it roared in pain, hopping backwards so Kili had to run out of the way to avoid the fate of being crushed. He yanked out a poison filled dagger from his boot and lobbed it in between the eyes of another which squealed. He dodged a whip from the uninjured one before grabbing it and swinging it to meet the neck of the okay one that fell into the one with the dagger in its eye and the two crashed to the ground. The one with the ankle stab growled threateningly and retrieved a whip from the ground, slashing it at him. He climbed the pile and yanked the dagger from in between its eyes, the tip laced with poison and he hopped off, running in between its ankles and grabbing its injured leg as he plunged his sword into the side of its hip once he had climbed high enough. As he knew it would, the poison rushed into its veins immediately and he jumped away before its falling could crush him and made his way with his chin held high in triumph to where he knew Fili and Gandalf were hiding in the bushes._

_They stepped out from their hiding spot. Fili's mouth was open in awe and Gandalf's eyes were wide. Neither knew what to say, but eventually Gandalf broke the silence._

_"Kili? How on Middle-Earth did you do that?"_

_"It's a long story." The archer replied, racking his brain for an explanation. "Monale? Have you heard of him?" He asked the wizard who looked utterly lost at first until he began to realise what Kili meant._

_"A...are you...?" Kili just smiled - that was enough for Gandalf._

_Fili's mouth was still open, causing Kili to snicker. "Your mouth is open, Fee." He pointed out._

_Fili clamped it shut and debated what he wanted to say. "The ba...you did...I...what?" Kili burst out laughing and Fili smiled, finally figuring out what he wanted to say. "I can't believe you just did that."_

_"We should get back to the company." Kili told them as he swivelled on his heels and marched back in that direction, Gandalf and Fili following close behind, both lost in thought._

_They caught up to Thorin who immediately rounded on the youngest. "You. What were you thinking?! Running away like that so we don't have an archer to defend us! And for what? Were you trying to make a point?!"_

_Kili was taken aback. Yes, he expected Thorin to be mad, but not furious. He had been yelled at like this many a time but Thorin had never once been this mad because he didn't have Kili there. "What was I supposed to do? Leave them there to decease the lives of every single innocent pass by?"_

_"No! Someone else can deal with them - someone that can actually fight! You are reckless, Kili, reckless!"_

_"At least I'm not off my head." Kili fired back before he could stop himself. A hand made contact with his cheek. Thorin had aimed for the place where the bruise was still visible to get to maximum pain and it worked - the archer crumbled to the ground with a cry. He raised his hand to hit him again when his own arm was grabbed and he was dragged away. Kili was absolutely startled - never had he been struck with any chance of somebody lingering and now it had just been done in front of the entire company. Everyone was shocked as murmurings brewed and gasps were heard. Kili wanted to lie on the ground and never stand up._

_Fili knelt by his side, trying to coax him into standing. He shot warning looks to the company that clearly urged them not to follow as he dragged Kili away to a nearby tree who followed numbly._

_Dwalin threw a shocked Thorin against a tree and held him there. "How dare you do something like that! You lied to me and my brother when that poor innocent child came over years ago and claimed that you hit him. I care for Kili! You are lucky nobody that chose to see the kindness in that lads heart has not beaten you to death for failing to see what others choose to notice! He's right - you really are off your head!" Right after his outburst he let Thorin go who slid down the tree into a slumped position as Dwalin moved to rejoin the company. Great. His youngest nephew had turned everyone against him._

_Sitting with your brother after he has been struck by your uncle, unknown to you that it has been happening for years, in front of a group of eleven other dwarves, a hobbit and a wizard was not something Fili thought would happen on this quest. He was unsure of what to say as they sat with their backs to a jagged tree, because everything he could think of somehow lead back to the events of less than ten minutes ago. He wanted to get to the bottom of his brothers past, but he wasn't certain that Kili would open up to him. Kili had spoken to Elrond in Rivendell, Fili and Ori having sneakily watched most of the encounter, and he had heard the mention of a familiar name, but wondered how in mahal's name that linked to Kili. When he said his question it sounded quiet to his ears, but Kili shifted uncomfortably, showing he definitely heard._

_"Have you met Akim?" The blonde heir asked. Kili tipped his head back against the tree, as he pondered about his answer. Two voices were in his head. No, don't tell him! He shouldn't know! One of them screamed, but the other, calmer and more rational voice whispered. Just tell him - he wants to know, he deserves to know. He is your brother. Kili hesitated, but his lips and voice appeared to have listened to the latter for once._

_"Kind of." He murmured._

_"What does that mean?" Fili pressed. "Hmm?"_

_"Remember that time I was gone for like, maybe...three years?" Kili asked, and Fili nodded._

_"Aye. When you went to stay in Rivendell?"_

_Kili smiled slightly, preparing himself for some form of outburst. "That was a lie."_

_"What?!" Fili demanded in shock, standing up and turning around to face his brother._

_Kili shook his head and began to explain confidently, and by the end of his short story he was surprised that he felt no tang of regret in telling Fili. I did the right thing. "I got caught by goblins and orcs, and got taken into an arena, where I had to fight barlogs and wargs and all sorts of darkness. I even got thrown into war with a couple of skin-changers and I won. Then they gave me that name because they were surprised that I was capable of defeat, especially at sch a young age, and always said I was a formidable fighter." Fili smiled, proud of his little brother. The words 'formidable fighter' echoed in his ears and he turned back around._

_"You are Akim?" He asked. Kili nodded, and Fili looked up to the crystal sky in wonder. "Mahal." he breathed. "My brother is famous!" He exclaimed, and Kili offered a laugh before grunting as he pushed himself up._

_"We should get back to the others." He declared, and Fili debated whether or not to press for more of the story, and no matter how much he wanted to, he decided against it - he wondered if anybody actually knew what Kili had just told him._

_"Kee?" Kili swivelled around on his heels. "Thank you...for sharing that with me." Kili nodded, and gestured for Fili to follow who obeyed, thoughts swirling through his mind as he processed the new information that he had just been given, and wondered if he would ever be able to finish the rest of the puzzle._

Fili came back to reality and looked around, before slowly finishing his meal, though he didn't feel the slightest bit hungry anymore. _My brother, the one who I swore to protect the moment he was born, suffered five years in the hands on filthy orcs and goblins?!_ It hit him like a bombshell, and he scraped his chair as he got up and marched out of the room. The company watched him leave in wonder.

"Is he alright?" Beorn asked.

"I think he just needed some air." Thorin replied, locking eyes with Kili who smiled his thanks at the skin-changer before swiftly leaving the room. He entered the bathroom, to see Fili sat with his face in his hands, and he put a comforting hand on his shoulder. Fili looked up in surprise.

"Sorry." He said. "I just really needed some air." Kili slumped down on the wall next to him. "Kili, are those scars on your back from the many years that you were trapped?" Kili gave him a look that clearly asked 'well what do you think?' Fili laughed slightly and stood up. "You should have them checked out by Oin." Kili forcefully shook his head no. He had never wanted anybody to see his back close up, his only exception being Elrond, as it was the prettiest mix of red, black and purple that you will ever see. Fili just huffed. "Why aren't you speaking?"

The black haired arched blew some hair out of his face and stared at his brother and tapped his throat. "I can't!" He mouthed exasperated. Fili just looked lost.

"Why?!" 

_Wizard,_ Kili signed. _Ask the wizard._ Fili understood and nodded, making a mental note to discuss this with Gandalf, whom he realized he hadn't really ever had a proper conversation with. Kili stood up and looked in the large mirror, wiping some muck of of his face with the water that he got from the tap. Fili watched him closely. He ran a finger through his moustache and frowned at how knotted it was, and began to undo it as he brushed his fingers through the coarse hair to make sure it was smooth and even, and once he was satisfied he began braiding his 'do'.

When they went back down for dinner they felt calmer and the atmosphere around them seemed to have died down. Fili had realised that Kili wasn't choosing to be a mute and vowed to ask the wizard for further details. He wasn't sure if he knew what had happened to Kili and that's why the archer told him to speak to the wizard or if he might have an idea, but he was going to anyway.

Kili looked up from picking at some food when Gandalf suddenly stood beside him and whispered something in his ear.

"Meet me in the stables in ten minutes." He murmured, before standing up to his full height and stretched as he exited through the door. _Why?_ Kili thought of the possible reasons and pondered on whether or not to go, but planned on obeying. _Don't want to risk 'upsetting the wizard.'_ In the remainder of the ten minutes that he was able to sit and think, he tried to get his head around the fact that this had all really happened to him.

It was real magic.

* * *

**It's been ages because I was self isolating and my laptop was at the house that I don't live in so sorry about that! I'm back now though and will try to get back to where we were (when they were about to charge into battle) as soon as possible!**


	5. When He Remembered

_Bofur fell out of the door to their cottage and into a tree. He grunted and straightened himself, looking up to lay eyes on an irritated Fili who gestured to the kids. "Sorry." he apologized meekly, raising his hands defensively. "Thorin said they've finished making food."_

_"But Fili's telling us a story!" The little boy exclaimed with a pout._

_Bofur raised his eyebrows in interest. "Really?"_

_Fili scoffed. "I'm literally being bullied by everyone that comes outside."_

_"No, it's good lad. I'm sure Balin is impressed." The aging advisor held up a hand and nodded. "Maybe create a career out of storytelling."  
_

_"That's what I said!"  
_

_"Come inside. I'm sure Thorin will want to listen."_

* * *

Kili exited Beorn's house, having thankfully not managed to capture the attention of anyone when he opened the door and slipped out, looking around for the stables. He spotted a small wooden shack in the garden and hesitantly made his way over.

"Ah, here he is! Just the dwarf I was waiting for." Gandalf greeted, widening his arms when Kili entered the stall and looked at the wizard questioningly. 

"Him?" The skin-changer asked, raising an eyebrow whilst he scoffed. "Why did you want me to meet him? He's nothing special." Kili, feeling quite offended, hopped onto the fence with a silent huff and pulled his knees to his chest whilst he watched the two converse.

"Remember earlier when you said you would make exceptions for one dwarf, Akim?" Gandalf asked, Beorn nodding in response. "I give you Akim." He pointed to Kili with a smile. Beorn stared at the dwarf before he laughed a low and lengthy laugh.

"Him? He is barely of age, and he's a mute! I would hardly class him as legend material." Kili cocked his head, willing for the skin changer to continue with the insults. "He barely has a stubble! It is impossible for that..." Beorn pointed to Kili with a breathy snicker "to have killed more Barlogs than any other being in the whole of Middle-Earth!" Kili blew a lock of dark hair from where he felt it itching his eye as Beorn continued to ridicule. All Kili could do was watch and contemplate in his head how in mahal's name he could convince the half bear that Gandalf was telling the truth.

"It surprised me too!" Gandalf exclaimed. Kili smiled in amusement at how nervous he could tell the skin-changer made Gandalf. It was as though the wizard thought that Beorn would lash out at him any second. "Honest! But it is the truth, that is all that I can tell you." 

Beorn chuckled mockingly. "I don't believe you." An idea suddenly struck Kili when he noticed the scar bearing Beorn's left hand and he grinned slightly, jumping down with a thud from the fence and he gestured for the two to stay put whilst he went and got something. He had left his weapons by the door, and as he rummaged through the pile, creating a cacophony of metal clanking together and weapons falling to the floor, he found the sword that he was after inconveniently at the very bottom. He grabbed the hilt, listening to it scrape as the blade exited the pile and flipped it over like a pancake with practised fingers in his right hand. Inside the blade of the sword there was a green liquid, which Kili had stolen and used to kill an incredible amount of creatures because it was poison.

As he re-entered the stables Gandalf and Beorn abruptly ended the conversation that they had been having before Kili held out the blade for the latter to observe. The skin-changer only eyed it skeptically, unsure what he was looking at so he turned his now questioning and maybe a little curious gaze to the dwarf.

"What's this?"

Kili pointed a finger to the blood stain marking the hilt, and Beorn surprisingly heard the gasp that escaped his lips.

_Staring up at the two Barlogs that were glaring daggers at him who he generally thought were going to kill him in that very moment, all he could think about was how much his life sucked. Too many years had he spent captured on the outskirts of the arena, and too many times had he watched death occur with absolutely nothing he could do to stop it. Now he closed his eyes, accepting his fate as one of the evil that towered highly above him brought down it's fiery whip with a roar, but he didn't need to. A figure rammed his body into the skin-changer, knocking him out of the way from the fatal blow although the air was pounded out of his lungs as he fell to the ground._

_He coughed, looked up and watched in pure amazement as a hooded figure grabbed the end of the Barlog's whip and swung it around with rage, forcing it to cut into the neck of the monster. It was a rather stupid move, for now Kili had some burns on his hands, but nonetheless Beorn's mouth was dropped open in awe. Kili pulled out a sharp sword from his sheath and ran behind the foot of the Barlog, stabbing it into the thick ankle, causing a mix between a squeal and an angry roar and it stumbled back, nearly standing on the dwarf who quickly used his agile body to dodge and jump, climbing up the leg of the Barlog by using the many dents that littered its brown skin like a ladder._

_He made it onto the shoulder and smiled slyly, digging the blade into the side of it's head. The poison rushed into its body immediately, causing it to collapse and ram into the other one as it fell sideways. Kili jumped onto the head of the other monster, using the same tactic with the sword but instead this time he dug it into the top of it's head as it fell and he rolled away. Once he landed on his feet he turned around and huffed, staring in satisfaction at the two dead enemies._

_Beorn sat up in shock at what had just happened. He had seen Akim fight before in the arena, but those visions had only been glimpses. The hooded figure trotted over to him. Beorn squinted to try and see his face, but all he could make out was a fleck of raven hair._

_"Are you hurt?" A smooth voice, that of a young dwarf asked. Beorn shook his head, seemingly still a little shaken._

_"Not really. Uh...thank you." He offered. The figure nodded in response, moving to retrieve his sword that had fallen from his clutches when he had rolled away and it had landed by the stunned skin-changer. Beorn politely picked it up with blood stained hands by the blade carelessly, as his eyes were still staring at the being in front of him, and the sharpness immediately sunk into his flesh. He dropped the sword quickly, cursing himself in his mind before picking it up by the proper haft, caking the hilt in blood and he quickly dropped it again. Kili watched in amusement. "I'm so sorry." He stated, berating himself for the idiotic behaviour that he would never pull off unless he was nervous._

_The legend closed his eyes in embarrassment for the poor guy but gave a short, hearty laugh, though he found himself frowning at the state of the hilt._

_"It's fine." he answered reassuringly. "You should go and see the healers." Beorn nodded in agreement. His saviour swivelled on his heels and darted out of sight, leaving the skin-changer to stare with an astonished smile. He had been saved._

"It is you." he breathed, soaking in the realisation that the haft on that sword had definitely been attached to the blade that had miraculously saved his life that day. Kili had got most of the blood off, but one stain had forever since that day marked the hilt. Beorn bowed, causing the dwarf to snigger. A minute ago he had been throwing insults at the young dwarf like there was no tomorrow. Beorn realised this and tried his hardest to stop red from flushing to his cheeks. He was never one to get embarrassed or stutter unless he was nervous, like he had been on that lucky day. "I uh...I apolog..." He stopped dead and looked at Kili, trying to figure out what to say. The dwarf gave him a 'keep going you're doing great' look, and the skin-changer cleared his throat and decided to twist the topic."I did say it, but I still feel as though I owe you a thanks for that day." Kili nodded in acceptance and Gandalf beamed.

"I'm glad that's sorted." The wizard concluded, nodding his head awkwardly. 

"Why doesn't he speak?" Beorn whispered to Gandalf who looked up sadly.

"I may have an idea. It's dark magic, of such, if I'm correct. Used only by my kin." he murmured and the half bear looked taken aback.

"The only person in your kin who would do that is surely..."

"Nerissa." Gandalf finished for him. "Yes. But he can't explain so I'll have to get in contact with a couple of others." When Beorn opened his mouth to answer Gandalf coughed into his fist forcefully to indicate that the conversation had ended. 

Kili glowered at them in annoyance - were they aware that he was stood there?

"I will gather the horses tomorrow. You will be aided with provisions as well as I can." Beorn declared, and the two other beings nodded their thanks sincerely, before departing. The wizard and dwarf looked at each other and grinned victoriously.

"We did it." Gandalf stated excitedly for the both of them.

* * *

Fili had no idea what his brother had done, but Beorn had had a sudden change of heart and told all of the dwarves that he would lend them ponies and a couple of needed supplies for the next step of their journey. The blonde heir's eyes never left the wizard, for he was waiting for the right moment to speak to him alone, but much to his annoyance everyone wanted to speak to Gandalf and he was impatiently tapping his foot as he waited for Dori to quit offering the wizard a selection of many refreshments.   
After an annoyingly long time of waiting Gandalf stood up from his chair and ambled out of the room. Fili grinned and hopped out of his chair, seizing the opportunity to get a quiet moment alone with the guy. He earned himself some rather confused glances from behind his back about how hasty he was but nobody made the move to follow, something he was incredibly grateful for. 

"Master Gandalf?" 

The wizard in question spun around in surprise from where he gazed out of the window, staff in hand. 

"Ah, young Fili! I didn't see you there." He declared. "What can I do for you?"

Fili decided to cut to the chase, not bothering with small talk. "Is there something wrong with my brother?"

Gandalf frowned. "Well he's not saying anything..."

"What a revelation." Fili muttered sarcastically. "I had no idea."

"Now here, Fili. I'm on you're side."

"I know." Fili said immediately. "I'm sorry. I asked him and well...he sort of said that I should ask you."

Gandalf leaned forward on his staff with a sigh. "Listen to me. I found slit on the floor, confirming that a spell most certainly took place. Whatever happened it was a form of dark magic. I'm going to leave you when we get somewhere suitable enough for you to continue on your own without me so I can converse elsewhere and find out if it was who I think it was."

Fili gaped at him, eyes sagging with exertion as he took the information in like a vigorous bombshell. "So there's nothing I can do?"

Fili cursed when Thorin chose that moment to enter the room, interrupting their conversation. "Have any of you seen Kili?" he asked, pausing when he noticed the tense silence. "What is happening here?" He was again responded with silence. "Well, spit it out." 

Gandalf exhaled tiredly, bored of the consistent questioning for he didn't like being hollered at. "We were just debating between ale and wine." Fili responded simply. "I prefer ale, Gandalf prefers wine. What about you?"

Thorin scoffed at him disbelievingly. "Very funny."

Gandalf grabbed Fili's arm when Thorin turned around and began to exit the room. "You watch him closely lad, you hear? Keep a sharp eye on him. I'm telling you, there is something foul going on in the world of magic, mark my words."

Fili, having no idea what that really meant, nodded hesitantly and slipped away. None of this was normal, he knew that, but knowing Gandalf had yet to know worried him for nobody had a chance if he didn't have a clue.

* * *

"Kili?" Thorin called, rounding the corner and smiled at his nephew who sat on the bed, sharpening his sword. "Hello." Kili looked up and flinched slightly at his uncle's presence but Thorin held up his hands defensively to show he came unarmed. "I won't hurt you." He promised, hesitantly perching himself on the end of the bed. Kili's tension relaxed a little and he let the knife fall from his clutches and sink into the soft mattress. "I never taught you iglishmek, did I?" Kili shook his head, wondering where this conversation was heading. "Maybe it is time you learned." The archer let himself smile. 

Thorin began a one sided conversation, teaching Kili all of the basics of iglishmek who eagerly agreed to the new lesson. It was an extremely enjoyable evening, and for the first time in a long while Kili felt whole. Thorin couldn't deny for the life of him that he felt the same way. Guilt began once again to swim through his veins and he was horrified that he was born with a heart so foul that it didn't even bother to teach Kili his own kin's sign language.  
"I'm going to tell them to sleep." Thorin stated after about two hours. "Pack your things. For some reason the skin-changer had a change of heart and he's giving us ponies to ride out."

Kili nodded and raised his eyebrows in wonder as Thorin exited the room. A new presence passed, brushing Thorin's shoulder and Kili relaxed when he made the figure out to be Fili.

"Hey." The blonde said, collapsing onto the bed. "Wait..." Fili sat up, spinning to face his brother and he pointed to the door. "Did Thorin hurt you? Kee, I'm so sorry if he did, I can talk to him - I don't understand why he always does it, it's just..." Kili held up a hand to interrupt him and shook his head frantically. Fili relaxed slightly, leaning his head back on his crossed arms. "So...what happened in goblin town that has you on edge?"

Kili shot him an irritated look and Fili help up his hands defensively. "I'm sorry." Kili lay back on the bed rolling his tongue over his teeth. Fili suddenly realised that Thorin hadn't hurt Kili when they just spoke...did that mean...

"Do you forgive Thorin?"

Kili's signing couldn't be clearer.

_No._

* * *

After a rather relaxed sleep, Kili awoke, feeling ready for the journey ahead. _A darkness lies upon that forest._ Beorn's words played over and over in his head like a constant tune, but the energy that had refueled his veins as he slept was more powerful and he tried to be more positive than negative. He assumed he was happier because finally his sleep hadn't been haunted by some form of nightmare that kept him awake most of the night. He pushed away the sheets and entered the meal room, noticing that he was one of the first awake as Dwalin, Gloin and Nori were the only ones who were also up. They had been talking in hushed voices. Truth be told, they were all extremely concerned about Kili's health and had been contemplating whether or not to get Oin to check his back for fear of wrath from the youngest, but the conversation abruptly stopped when Kili entered the room and they leant bak casually in their chairs. Kili stared at them with the knowledge that they had been talking about him, gaze demanding only one question.

_What?!_

They buried down the pity they felt for the lad and refrained from mentioning anything to cause it, choosing instead to pretend everything was normal.

"Good morning, lad." Gloin greeted.

"Ale?" Dwalin offered, bottle at the ready. Kili shook his head no as took a seat, mentally giggling at his friend's constant need of a drink. Dwalin could drink ale all day long, this he knew, but for breakfast?!

The completely awkward silence at the table grew and grew the longer that they sat there, the three older dwarves exchanging constant worried glances, and eventually Kili slammed his fork down in irritation. They all flicked their startled eyes to him. "What?" He mouthed. 

"Nothing, lad, nothing at all." Dwalin stated. 

"Let's enjoy some music." Nori suggested, and him and Gloin started to sing as Nori stood up and started awkwardly dancing. Kili looked down behind a veil of dark hair to hide his snicker and brewing laughter whilst Dwalin tried his hardest to ignore the two. Eventually, Thorin, Fili, Bofur and Oin all entered the room and Nori's pathetic dancing instantaneously came to a stop and he cleared his throat. The four paused in their stance as they watched the tense scene before them.

"What?" They asked simultaneously. 

"Nothin." Dwalin replied, a little sick of that question. "Come, sit, eat." He ordered and the four complied after a moment of hesitation. Nori rushed over and plonked himself in his seat, earning skeptical glances but he tried to ignore them. Eventually all of the other dwarves joined the fray, starting up conversations, much to everyone's immense relief.

After breakfast, the dwarves went outside to saddle up. Kili threw a saddle over his horse - apparently named Shamrock - and patted the faithful creature on the shoulder before swinging himself over the saddle. Beorn entered the scene and walked over to Kili.

"I will thank you again." Kili shrugged - _why did this guy keep thanking him like he was some hero?_ "Have a safe journey." Kili smiled his thanks at the skin-changer who then stepped up to the front.

"Go now, while you have the light. Your hunters are not far behind." He explained. Kili followed suit with a grateful wave to Beorn as the company galloped away whilst Beorn watched Kili leave. The archer looked back with a frown; the being looked almost sad. They rode across many plains and towards the entrance to the dreaded gloom of Mirkwood forest. When they finally made it there, Gandalf stepped through. 

"The Elven Gate." He murmured before turning to the rest of the company. "Here lies our path through Mirkwood."

Dwalin looked around. "No sign of the Orcs. We have luck on our side." Fili and Kili smiled broadly at that news. Gandalf noticed Beorn in the distance in his bear form and half smiled, though what made Kili silently laugh is how Gandalf still acted as though the skin-changer agitated him.

"Set the ponies loose. Let them return to their master." The wizard ordered. 

Bilbo shifted uncomfortably. "This forest feels sick, as if a disease lies upon it. Is there no way around?" 

"Not unless we go two hundred miles north, or twice that distance…south." Came the response. Gandalf noticed something in the forest and walked further inside. Bilbo took the one ring from his pocket, the need to feel it's presence itching at him and when he touched it the feeling of its immediate power soothed him. Kili noticed this gesture and squinted his eyes to try and see what the was hiding in there and furrowed his brow, looking at the hobbit skeptically. He made a pact to talk to their burglar when he was next able to.

Gandalf rejoined the company at the edge of the forest where they were freeing the horses. "Not my horse, I need it!" Gandalf suddenly barked. The company stared at him in confusion. Fili had been waiting for this moment though, but it was annoying how he chose the most dangerous place to leave them.

"You’re not leaving us?" Bilbo asked the question that everyone was wondering.

"I would not do this unless I had to." He stopped and looked at Bilbo. "You’ve changed, Bilbo Baggins. You’re not the same hobbit as the one who left the Shire."

"I was going to tell you." Bilbo paused, debating in his mind whether or not to make his confession. "I…I found something in the Goblin tunnels."

"Found what?" Gandalf asked. Kili looked on at the conversation from afar, though neither being noticed this. "What did you find?"

Bilbo paused in hesitation before finally replying. "My courage." Kili squinted his eyes skeptically, knowing immediately that that was a lie.

"Good. Well, that’s good. You’ll need it." The wizard said, he too supposing the hobbit had told an untruth. He made his way towards his horse. "I’ll be waiting for you at the overlook, before the slopes of Erebor." He looked at Kili who shook his head, glaring at him, eyes demanding that he shouldn't leave as he tipped his head to the side threateningly. Gandalf just ignored his pleading gaze and turned to Thorin. "Keep the map and key safe. Do not enter that mountain without me. This is not the Greenwood of old, the very air of the forest is heavy with illusion that will seek to enter your mind and lead you astray."

"Lead us astray? What does that mean?" The burglar hobbit interrogated.

"You must stay on the path, do not leave it. If you do, you’ll never find it again." He explained, mounting his horse and he started to ride off. "No matter what may come, stay on the path!" He called as he galloped away.

"Come on, we must reach the mountain before the sun sets on Durin’s Day. Let’s go, we’ve but one chance to find the hidden door." Thorin ordered. Everyone followed suit. Kili gulped - this forest looked shady and he was dreading entering it's darkness, for fear of suffocating or becoming claustrophobic with the lack of air, but he held his chin high and followed confidently from the back of the line.


	6. When Nerissa Interfered

The trek through Mirkwood had been going on for two days now. It wasn't what one would call pleasant - every member of the company yearned to breathe in the scent of fresh air, not that of a dark, dank forest, and every area that they walked through seemed to look the same. Nothing new was happening. Worry was beginning to brew that they were walking in circles and would never arrive at their desired location. They felt dazed, lethargic and half the time extremely confused. 

Kili was happy enough - every night Thorin gave him an iglishmek lesson and he was becoming rather fluent in the sign language so communicating with people was miles easier. He wasn't an expert, but for a week's lessons worth he felt like a champion.

Thorin's manner was far kinder to him than before, giving the purple bruise on his cheek a chance to properly heal since Thorin hadn't owned the heart to stop it from doing so. It annoyed Kili, in a way; the fact that to get his uncle to stop beating him up he had to physically _save his life._ Why couldn't he have simply been gifted it, like Fili? Fili never got beatings. 

However, considering the current circumstances he was grateful for the surprising change in demeanor. 

The only issue was everyone constantly shot him concerned glances and he found himself declining Oin's request to see his back at least ten times an hour. It was, what one would say, exhausting. 

A presence snapped the archer who was walking near the back of the line out of his reverie. "Hello Kili. How are you?" The dwarf asked politely. Kili smiled at him; Ori had been the only one on the whole quest to really befriend him from the start - he knew that everybody pitied him, but none dared get involved for fear of Thorin's wrath. However, Ori was always the one to ride alongside him, always the one to sneak him extra food when Thorin didn't let him have any. He could tell it hurt Ori that Kili kept his past a secret - the two were relatively close, after all, and if Kili had to tell anyone in the company he would definitely be high on the list, but he just _couldn't_. He also knew that Ori had seen his scars with Fili in Rivendell, and was too concerned about Kili's health, but he didn't see what they could do. The scars were there for life - they couldn't just magically disappear.

The black haired archer brought his hands up to sign. _Good, you?_

"I'm alright. I don't like this forest. It seems like there is something watching us all day long and it's creeping me out."

"Thank you!" A voice exclaimed from behind, causing both dwarves to spin around in surprise. "I didn't want to say anything in case everyone thought that I was mad, but every night it feels as though there are eyes upon us." Gloin muttered bitterly.

"It's giving me goosebumps." Dwalin added. The three raised their eyebrows in surprise that the hardened warrior had actually just admitted that. "Well not gooseb...just..." he coughed into his fist. "We need to get out of here soon." His voice turned gruff and Kili bit his bottom lip to hide the fact that he was silently laughing.

"I agree." Ori stated. "I think we all do."

"Ori! Ori, stop running off!" Dori exclaimed. "This forest is dangerous!" He shot Kili a glare who shook his head and snickered when Ori rolled his eyes at 'protective older brothers' as Dori grabbed his wrist and dragged him away.

"We will make camp here." Thorin declared from the front, stopping which in turn made everyone behind him come to an abrupt halt. He observed their surroundings - it was a small clearing in between a circle of trees which seemed like the perfect place to settle. Everyone complied to their leaders order and began to swing the packs off of their shoulders and lay out their bedrolls as Oin and Gloin successfully got a raging fire going, which spread a comforting warmth into the aroma. Thorin then ordered for Bifur and Nori to go hunting, whilst Bofur helped Bombur cook a stag that Kili had shot yesterday when him and his brother were ordered to go hunting. 

"Kili." Thorin called whilst the meal was cooking, gesturing to a tree that nobody was sat around, for all were fighting to be near the fire and steal it's glaze. Kili knew what they were doing and stood, sauntering over to learn various new words in the space of an hour that he vowed to put to good use.

* * *

Nerissa scowled wickedly at the young dwarf who had been assigned to sit on watch. She hadn't expected him to be doing this well - she _needed_ the lad and knew full well that fate didn't appear to be on her side at the moment. It surprised her since usually Thorin appeared to be as stubborn as a mule and didn't often change his mind about things or people. Every instinct to just murder the king awakened within her but she thought the better of it - torture would be so much more fun.

A lightbulb moment hit her and she developed a method to destroy Kili's chances of beating her in the deal whilst also gaining what she knew a certain hobbit in the company possessed; something that she needed if she was going to stay on the right side of the orcs.

The witch edged forward, making sure not to scuffle her feet through the leaves, and put her plan into action. 

* * *

Sitting on watch was boring, in all honesty, especially in Mirkwood because there was no light, meaning Kili couldn't wander off to hunt something under everyone's noses since he wouldn't be able to see anything. 

This was why he couldn't see the malevolent witch cowering behind a tree, eyeing Kili's water flask which she was able to move with her unnatural telekinesis abilities straight towards her whilst he lent back against a tree, tracing a finger over the runes carved into his bow, not focusing on his surroundings which was a little bad since he was supposed to be on watch, but nothing ever seemed to happen to raise alarm. 

The next time he picked up his flask and took a sip he had been unable to notice the anaesthesia flowing through the liquid. It tasted vile. He tried to spit it out but most had already been swallowed. It weighed his body down and he sagged against the tree, silently rasping for air as the substance took its immoral toll and engulfed him in sleep's evil darkness and away from the safer one of the forest.

* * *

Fili woke up with a stretch. Looking around, he noticed that he was the first awake. He peered up though some cracks in the trees - the scintillating fireball was slowly making a welcomed appearance, so he guessed that it was about dawn, which meant that the sky should turn azure soon. Whilst he waited for this, which was a pointless exercise really for the branches blocked the path of all rays to reach through them and brighten their sight, he began to re braid his moustache. He ended up doing this many mornings, for it often became tangled or undone during the night. 

"Why do you do that?" A voice behind his startled him into spinning around to stare at his brother in shock.

"You just talked." He whispered.

"Do you see anybody else around here doing it?" Kili spat.

"No but..I don't...know, really..."

"I'm hungry." Kili interrupted him suddenly, standing up to rummage through Bombur's bag of goods whilst the remainder of the company began to stir.

"Wait...Kili explain!" Fili ordered, standing up as well only to grimace in disgust when Kili ripped a large piece of raw meat off of a deceased bird with his teeth. He then pulled something out of his boot.

"Here's your knife. I borrowed it."

Fili stared blankly at the once green hilt which was now a shade of inky black. "W...why is it all black now?" He asked, staring at it in disbelief.

"I have black paint." Kili replied through a mouthful. Fili blinked and let it fall limply between his two fingers as he raised his arms in defeat, the crease between his brows deepening. Kili nudged past him like he wasn't there and plonked down onto a log to sharpen his blade. Fili rubbed the shoulder that had just forcefully been knocked back before turning around to see who else was awake. Dwalin, Balin, Bombur and Nori were all wandering about to prepare for travel.

Dwalin walked over to Kili. "Lad, why did you not wake us for watch?" 

"I didn't feel like it." Kili hissed. "Could you not tell that I was doing fine? You should be thankful that I bothered to let you sleep!"

Dwalin flinched in both surprise that Kili was speaking, and the bitterness in the lad's tone. He turned to Fili expectantly. "Did I miss something?" 

Fili could only shrug in response.

"Bombur, make breakfast." Thorin ordered whilst he stirred and laid eyes on the fat dwarf. Bombur grunted in response, standing up and searching in one of the hunting sacks. He frowned when he saw the state of the dead bird.

"Has someone cooked some of the bird?" He asked, looking around at the dwarves who were awake and the others who were rolling to awaken. Fili stared uncomfortably at Kili who was glaring daggers at Bombur from where he sat on the log. The cook pulled it out and turned to the black haired archer, speaking in a nothing but kind tone. "Did something happen whilst you were on watch?" 

"I am not your little find it guy, alright? So if you lost some of the bird why don't you throw yourself down a hole and cry about it!"

Bombur looked taken aback.

Thorin bolted upright and stared at his youngest nephew, letting his gaze then drift to his embarrassed and extremely confused eldest nephew. "What happened?" He demanded.

"I don't know!" Fili squeaked. 

"Your talking." Thorin stood in front of where Kili sat, hands on his hips. He wore a gruff expression. 

"Oh well spotted." The dwarf muttered, staring at the exiled king as though he was an idiot.

"How?"

"Are you stupid?" Kili half laughed. "I didn't speak to you because I didn't want to - who would! You terrify most of this company to the point where they flinch when you approach them because you are a psychopathic idiot!" Kili's voice rose with each word but the moment he finished his sentence he felt a hand back-slap him straight across the cheek, searing hot pain immediately erupting.

"Thorin..." Dwalin warned.

"Bombur don't bother cooking actually - we need to move." Thorin growled before walking away and collecting his bedroll. Kili glared at him from a distance.

Ori came and hesitantly sat next to him. "Are you feeling alright, Kili? Do you need anything?"

Kili turned angrily to the presence next to him. "Dwarf, you can say something rude, do something rude! Nobody will murder you for it." Ori flinched slightly, a look of hurt crossing his face. Fili raised his eyebrows and contemplated interfering. 

"I um...it's not very nice to be rude..." Ori stated in confusion.

"Who cares? If I walked up to the dwarf with the hat right now and stole his hat, then walked over to the large bald one and punched him, nobody would kill me." Ori stared at the bruise baring Kili's left cheek and thought about that phrase for a moment.

"But...you just wouldn't."

"Watch me." Kili challenged, standing up and marching away.

"Kili maybe don't..." 

"Shut up!" The heir called as he strolled towards Bofur, pulling the hat off of his head with worrying ease. Bofur laughed, thinking the dwarf to be joking. 

"Give it back, laddie." He chuckled, reaching up, unfortunately finding Kili to exceed his height who threw it up into a tree, watching in satisfaction as it hooked itself on the end of a branch.

Bofur stared up uncomfortably and flicked a glance to Fili who watched in discomfiture and uncertainty. Kili then ambled casually towards Dwalin and without warning raised his fist and it struck the hardened warrior strongly on the nose. The dwarf clutched it in shock, watching in disbelief as Kili tilted his head and tapped the bald - headed dwarf's shoulder before reclaiming his seat next to the wide-eyed Ori. 

"Did I die?" 

Ori didn't answer and stood up to hurry away. Thorin exhaled roughly and began to stomp angrily over to the youngest when Fili reached out on tiptoes to grab his uncle by the wrist and draw him from his path. 

"Please don't, uncle."

"Who does he think he is?" The exiled king spat. 

"I don't know uncle but something must have happened - that is _not_ my brother unless he's gone completely off his trolley. Let me talk to him before you scold him again."

"He just _punched_ Dwalin!"

"Aye, and you've punched him over three hundred times in his life! Just let me handle this. _Please."_

It took a moment for Thorin to nod his approval but when he finally did the heir was quick to move and sit beside his sulking brother.

"You didn't have to do that - he was just being nice." Fili told him.

"So what?"

Fili pondered his answer. "So now he's got pee running down his leg." He gestured to Ori who was being fussed over by his eldest brother, despite his constant protests that he was fine. 

"I am not responsible for that dwarf's bladder control or lack of it." Kili decided bluntly.

Fili threw his hands up in exasperation. "Kili? What is going on?" Kili glared at his brother prior to him standing up and rudely nudging past some of the company as he grabbed his pack and began to follow the long line of dwarves. Fili slung his own pack over his shoulder and furrowed his brow in concern as he followed cautiously along behind.

* * *

"Give me the magic."

Bilbo and Kili both trudged at the back, not engaging in any surrounding conversations until this question flew from out of nowhere. The hafling blinked and hesitantly spared a nervous glance to the dwarf walking next to him. 

"W...what?"

"You heard me, hobbit. I smell magic and I know that I'm not wrong."

Bilbo scuffed his feet in the auburn leaves - some of which were crisp and made a horrible crunching sound - in an uncomfortable gesture. "I uh...I don't know what you mean..." The hobbit stuttered with a slight smile as he flicked another glance at the dwarf who chuckled a menacing chuckle and put his hands on his hips.

"You see this knife?"

Bilbo anxiously shifted, not enjoying the turn of conversation. "Y...yes." He stuttered, watching every move that the dwarf made with the incredibly sharp looking dagger that glinted from one small ray of sunlight that it managed to capture. 

"It was forged by orcs, not hand made by any of the nice kin, and it is very sharp." He reached forward and sliced Bilbo's sleeve with one single swipe, startling the poor hafling into stumbling back. "See?"

"I do. Kili, are you feeling alright?"

"You don't get it to me today and this will meet the vulnerable flesh behind that sleeve of yours, mark my words."

Bilbo let himself relax when Kili shifted his attention to the company who had gotten a lot further ahead than originally for the duo at the back had barely realised that in the heated moment they had come to a halt.

He moved a shaky hand to hover over the ring, immediately stopping the trembling as its magic worked, talking to him soothingly. _No_ , he thought defiantly. _It's mine._

_Mine._

* * *

They continued to follow the path, glancing around to make sure that they hadn't somehow circled around and were walking the wrong way. "If we follow the trail we should get to the bridge that Gandalf warned us about on this day. We will keep heading in that direction and it gets thinner so no more than two next to one another. We stay in that direction..." Thorin paused in his sentence when Kili scoffed and walked away from him. "I wasn't done talking!"

"I was done listening!" came the response. 

"Kili, you need to know this! Did you listen to anything that Thorin just said?" Fili questioned.

"I don't know. All I heard was trail trail direction direction Thorin's boring kill me."

The king in exile grounded his shoulders threateningly and the only thing to stop him from charging at the youngest was Dwalin's hand pulling him back. As they continued to walk there was no change in Kili's morose attitude, much to Fili's upmost annoyance. Thorin's eldest nephew had been so concentrated at watching Kili from behind him where the archer walked with his arms crossed as he glared at any company member that dared look his way, including Fili himself, he didn't realise that the whole company had come to a sudden halt and he bumped into Bofur who stood in front of him, staring fixedly at something.

"Sorry." Fili mumbled.

"We've found the bridge!" A member of the company called from up front, though Fili couldn't see over the dwarves in front of him so he couldn't tell who.

"We could try and swim it." Bofur suggested, ignoring Fili, so Fili assumed that he hadn't heard the offered apology.

"Didn't you hear what Gandalf said? A dark magic lies upon this forest. The waters of this stream are enchanted." Thorin explained, looking around for any resourceful way to get across. Fili looked behind him and followed his brother who rolled his eyes and made his way over to some vines. Bilbo noticed this and saw what they was trying to do, so he followed the brothers to offer assistance.

"It doesn't look very enchanting to me." Bofur murmured. 

"We must find another way across." Thorin ordered, a serious brow crease weaved onto his countenance. 

"Just use the vines, idiots." Kili called, tugging on one harshly. Fili nearly put a hand out to stop him from falling but knew it would get swatted away. 

"Kili, no!" Thorin called with a head shake. "We send the lightest first."

Kili nodded in understanding. "Sure." He agreed, pushing the poor hobbit straight off of the trunk. The company immediately burst into action as the hobbit grabbed onto the vine with a yelp of surprise whilst Kili crossed his arms and watched in amusement, making no move to help. Fili glared daggers at him, reaching down hastily to assist the dangling hobbit. The rest of the company darted over. Dwalin and Dori both ended up yanking him up and once he was on his feet the whole dwarf party turned simultaneously to stare at the brunette who stood, watching the scene play before his eyes like an entertaining movie.

"Oops."

They did manage to get across with no more issues, but that was probably because Thorin made Kili go last for fear of any more intentional incidents. The archer had snorted but obeyed. 

It was a struggle to move out of the way of the obstacle vines, for they were constantly ducking and dodging - sometimes it was good to be tall, and sometimes you needed to be small to get through easier. It really was a maze. The only person who had managed to fall in - not to anyone's surprise - was Bombur. Now the company were tasked with making him some form of stretcher with pieces around the place which they succeeded in doing in record time.

Thorin had to restrain so hard from smacking his youngest nephew as hard as physically possible on the side of the face - the lad was being a brat. 

_Nothing new there,_ Thorin thought bitterly. _He was only being nice to get Fili to pity him. To get everyone to pity him. To make them doubt their loyalty to me._ The guilt that the leader of the company had felt for the last few weeks washed completely over him like water, leaving nothing but anger and infatuation.

Fili thought differently about the situation. _Something has happened._ Whatever events had occurred he was going to get to the bottom of them, for he had lost his brother once and refused to do it again. He needed to prove his uncle wrong about the notion that Kili truly was an irritating, reckless burden because the heir knew that that most certainly wasn't the case.

It was annoying though, he had to admit, when Kili didn't help carry the stretcher. He was one of the stronger ones of the company and denied putting that to good use, instead strolling beside them as they carried the deathly weight of their cook. 

Eventually Thorin ordered for a camp to be made. Meanwhile, Bombur had yet to awaken and Bofur was getting slightly perturbed. They were all used to seeing darkness but the mood seemed to dim even more so when the sky transformed into something completely black. 

The burglar looked up when he could tell someone was walking towards him and tried to hide his trembling when Kili spun around and sat beside him. 

"Hello Kili." Bilbo greeted with a small, anxious smile. 

"Ready to give it to me yet?"

"Uh, well...I don't know..." He stuttered uncomfortably. 

"Give it to me, hobbit. Now."

"Kili, I don't have anything!" Bilbo exclaimed, trying to avoid glancing at his pocket. To his surprise Kili let out a deep sigh.

"You weren't there in goblin town, were you?" Bilbo bit his bottom lip and shook his head. Kili smiled, pulling off his tunic and he turned around to face the hobbit who stared at the dwarf's back in horror. It was littered with scars, and he could barely see an area of un marked skin. He visibly shuddered at the thought of what could have caused wounds as bad as that - some looked faded, and some looked relatively new. 

"Kili...I..."

"These were painful to earn. I always tried to imagine a poor, innocent hobbit from the shire getting them."

Bilbo snapped his face to meet Kili's. "Look, Kili, I really don't know what you're talking about..." Bilbo put his hands in his pockets, hoping that the gesture went unnoticed which it did not. Kili smiled, tackling the hobbit to the ground whilst he shoved his hands into Bilbo's pockets. "It's mine!" The hobbit hissed, hovering a protective hand over the golden ring.

Kili pulled a sword out of his boot. "This contains poison!" He yelled over the struggling. The company ran over to pry Kili away but Bilbo found himself surrendering the moment he saw the sword and Kili's hand grasped the magic, prior to him rolling off of Bilbo and shoving it into his tunic. In the next second the air was momentarily knocked out of his lungs as two strong hands pushed him backwards onto the ground. Other voices were heard asking Bilbo whether or not he was okay, but the hobbit just stared at Kili with wide eyes in shock. Kili propped himself up on his elbows and stared at his uncle.

"What?" He asked innocently. 

"What in mahal's name do you think you are doing? That is our burglar! Who do you think you are, going around attacking people like that?! This behavior stops, now!"

"Or what uncle?" Kili fired back, standing up and defiantly placing his hands on his hips, sliding a sword from his left boot. "You'll hit me again?"

"Right now I'm considering taking away your fourteenth share." Thorin spat.

"So you can have more for yourself?"

"Excuse me?"

"Kili..." Fili started to intervene, though Balin put a hand on his arm to stop him from moving.

"The gold is for greedy idiots who can't see what they become! When we arrive at Erebor, every member of this lot will watch you fall to the prey of the same sickness that your grandfather did, then they will end up dead when they try to question you. Then the cycle will repeat with my poor dear brother over there - Fili, is it?" Fili flinched, visibly hurt at the words and he tried to stop tears from entering his eyes. "I will be laughing when..." A hand slapped his face once again, dark bruising immediately bursting onto his right cheek. Kili just laughed. "See? See - he's crazed!" Kili told them with wide eyes as they started to murmur and turned away. Fili turned sadly and departed with them. 

Fake tears brimmed in Kili's eyes when Thorin turned to face him with a look of pure hatred. "You really are a wretch."

* * *

Kili stirred, the feeling of waking up on hard ground was uncomfortable. He put a hand to his head in a daze as he rubbed his eyes, sitting up and stretching his stiff limbs which caused him to hear the creation of cracks. As he forced his eyes open the first thing his bleary vision saw was stone. Grey stone. Then he saw more of it. He started frantically whipping his head back and forth, staring in horror at the handcuffs around his wrists as they jangled loudly with his movement. The dwarf looked up, the stone surrounding him travelling up in a circle at least five meters upwards. He stood up on shaky legs and pressed the wall to feel for dents, searching for any way to climb back up. He opened his dry mouth to yell, but much to his dismay, no sound came out. Where was Fili? Where was everyone? 

_What in mahal's name was going on?!_


End file.
